An inspirational teenage girl has created a ‘bucket list’ after being told that she has terminal cancer.
15-year-old cancer sufferer Alice Pyne with her pet Labrador Mabel
Alice Pyne, 15, suffers from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and has created a website to update followers about her progress. The teenager, who lives with younger sister Milly and parents Vicky and Simon, has a list of wishes which range from meeting Take That to staying in a caravan.
Her family is working towards helping her achieve all her goals before cancer claims her life.
The courageous youngster speaks frankly about her illness on her blog www.alicepyne.blogspot.com and has over 1,000 followers, including This Morning presenter Philip Schofield.
ALICE’S TO DO LIST SO FAR
To swim with sharks
To make everyone sign up to be a bone marrow donor
To go to Kenya (I can’t travel there now but I wanted to)
To enter Mabel in a regional Labrador show
To have a photo shoot with Milly, Clarissa, Sammie and Megs
To have a private cinema party for me and my BFFs
To design an Emma Bridgewater Mug to sell for charity
To stay in a caravan
To have a purple Apple iPad but I’m not really allowed to put that on here and mum is trying to borrow one
To be a dolphin trainer (I can’t do this one either now)
To meet Take That
To go to Cadbury World and eat loads of chocolate
To have a nice picture taken with Mabel
To stay in the chocolate room at Alton Towers
To have my hair done if they can do anything with it
To have a back massage
To go whale watching
Alice was diagnosed with cancer just over three years ago and has undergone extensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments.
She also received a stem cell transplant where her own treated cells were used, but treatment was not effective.
Last year more than 1,000 people signed up to see if they could donate bone marrow to Alice, along with help from the Anthony Nolan Trust, but in October a scan showed there were no more curative treatment options.
Brave Alice – who lists her occupation as a ‘full-time cancer fighter’ says on her blog: ‘I’m 15 and I have terminal cancer. I’ve created a bucket list because there are so many things I still want to do in my life … some are possible, some will remain a dream.
‘My blog is to document this precious time with my family and friends, doing the things I want to do. You only have one life … live it!’
‘It’s a bit funny me doing a blog because mum has always done these sort of things and I’ve never really being interested before.
‘Most of you know that my scan at Alder Hey wasn’t very good and that the cancer is now spreading through my body.
‘It’s a pain because there’s so much stuff that I still want to do.
‘I guess that my particular cancer is made of strong stuff (which is hard because I know I gave it my all and I’m strong and determined too).
‘Anyway, mum always tells me that life is what we make of it and so I’m going to make the best of what I have and because there were so many things I still wanted to do, mum suggested that I turn my ideas into a bucket list.
I’ve not quite finished it yet, as I keep remembering other bits, so I might add things to it as I go along.
‘I’m not expecting to do everything on it. Some of the things are just not going to happen because I can’t even leave the country now (I’m too much of a risk), but they’re on there, because they were on my ‘to do’ list at some point.
‘So, I thought it would be fun to have my list online and to tick things off and do a little update on everything I do.
‘If anyone has suggestions, please let mum or dad know because they don’t know how to do all of it yet. They’re working on it!
One of Alice’s main goals is to encourage people to sign up to the bone marrow register.
On her blog she dispels the myth that it hurts to have the procedure done.
She said: ‘I read on someone’s post that it is really painful. Well, mostly bone marrow is taken as cells via a needle and I have had it done.
‘I was 13 when I had my first transplant and because they used my own cells, I had to have them taken out (they call it harvested) and then stored and put back in some months later after more chemo.
‘I’m not just saying this, but it really didn’t hurt at all. I had a tiny bruise from the needles and that was about it. I was a bit tired too but I’m always tired so that may not have been the cells.’
