Natalie has been on my Team for the past year and we have a great working relationship/friendship. She's one of the quietist and unassuming people and really is the most caring person you could ask to meet.

During our first catch up as her Manager Natalie shared with me what she had been through, she was diagnosed with Cancer in 2009 in her mouth and had to have some of her tongue removed and reconstructed and also 6 weeks of intensive Radiotherapy. Then in 2015 not long after starting at Holiday Extras she had a reoccurrence in her Lung and had to have half of one of her Lungs removed to, at this time her daughters were just 3 and 1.

The type of Cancer Natalie has is Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) it is an uncommon form of malignant neoplasm that arises within secretory glands, most commonly the major and minor salivary glands of the head and neck. It is a very rare form affecting a handful of people in the UK. So you could say that the cancer Natalie has is as rare as her incredible sweet nature.

Unfortunately Natalie came into her catch up back in the spring and told me that she had really bad back pain. Thinking it was just back pain and not being the type of person to complain she didn't go to the Drs until it got really bad. Natalie was told the devastating news that her cancer had returned for the third time and this time it had advanced to a stage 4 cancer and she has 18 months to live.

How heart breaking for her, Ricky her husband and their two beautiful girls. I cannot imagine having to break that news to them. Natalie will not see them go to secondary school, get married or have children of their own.

With this in mind I want to try and ease some of the financial strain and be able to raise some money so that her gorgeous family can go and make some beautiful memories together. Memories that the girls can treasure.

Natalie is incredibly positive and with this in mind she is researching a clinical trial in Germany although this will not affect the outcome it may give her more precious time with her loved ones. I would love to help make this possible by raising some money to help get her there.

Christmas is a time for families and lets make this one as special as can be for this amazing family. This could be any of us, with one in two of us in our lifetime being diagnosed with this horrific disease.

Vic

Natalie's proud Manager