A mum who is ill with cancer has decided to endure losing her upper set of teeth and going blind through radiotherapy, in order to have a bit more time to spend with her children.
Thirty-seven-year-old Kerry Borlase was sent away by doctors for several months of last year, despite complaining of a blocked nose. However, six months later she had a biopsy that revealed that she had a large cancerous tumour behind her nose and eye.
Despite undergoing surgery to remove the tumour last month, she now needs a course of radiotherapy in order to reduce the chances of the cancer returning.
If she doesn't have the course, the likelihood of the cancer returning is 50 percent. If she does, it goes down to 20 percent.
The problem is, the treatment will destroy the top gums of her mouth and - more than likely - cause her to lose sight in her right eye.
However, Kerry has decided to go ahead with the six-week-long course of treatment in order to have a better chance of being around for her fiancé and three children in the years to come.
She said: "I had a full-blown panic attack in the waiting room when I went to get my results of the biopsy, I was an absolute mess.
"The doctor took me into a side room and by the time he told me I had cancer, I was completely hysterical and had lost all capacity."
"They booked me in very quickly to have the tumour removed and the surgeon was really confident that he had managed to remove it completely but there was a 50 percent chance of the cancer returning.
"It was up to me if I wanted to have the radiotherapy as it would mean losing all my upper teeth and probably the sight in my right eye.
"Hearing it would reduce the chance of the cancer coming back to 20 percent made the decision for me really.
"I'd rather have half my teeth removed and go blind than leave my children behind to bury me."
Before she got ill, Kerry was working as a chef in Cornwall and was due to marry her fiancé, Robert Borlase.
He asked her to marry him in March, which made Kerry, as well as her three children, very happy.
That January, she'd started suffering with a blocked nose that wouldn't clear, no matter what she did.
She continued: "I'd sit up in the morning and pure gunk would just pour out of my nose, I've gone through so much toilet roll it's unbelievable.
"I couldn't breathe properly and it was causing me to have panic attacks, but I was ringing the doctors crying and they just weren't listening to me.
"My nose was leaking so much it was making me not want to leave the house. It was embarrassing and it was just ruining my quality of life but nobody would help me."
After a while, she was given a specialist appointment, at which the doctors confirmed she had cancer. Within two weeks she had surgery to remove the tumour, but now she must endure the six weeks of radiotherapy.
Kerry added: "The radiotherapy will destroy my upper gums as it has to be localised to where the cancer had been, so I'm having all of my upper teeth removed next Wednesday.
"As the cancer had spread up to behind my right eye, it felt like I'd been kicked in the eye following the surgery and now I might lose the sight in that eye due to the radiotherapy.
"My partner Rob has been so supportive through it all, and we've both had to give up work at the moment because of the cancer, so things are really difficult.
"I'm choosing to have the radiotherapy so I can have more time with my family - they're my world and I'd rather go blind than leave my kids without a mum."
Kerry's mates have set up a GoFundMe page for her, hoping to help out with her travel expenses and other bills.
Featured Image Credit: SWNSTopics: UK News, Interesting, Weird, Health