A Fife mum who battled cancer three times has died, two months after receiving a terminal diagnosis.
Creina Dawkins, 33, from Dunfermline, died last week after being told in February that the cancer she thought she had recovered from had returned.
After first battling the disease in 2017, Creina was shocked to learn in September last year that it had returned and spread to her spine – but was relieved to eventually be given the all-clear later in 2020.
However, Creina began to experience back pain in February and tests revealed the cancer had in fact spread.
Despite an emergency operation taking place within days, she was told by medics she could have only months to live after they found cancer in her lungs and liver.
And her family have now announced she died on April 7.
Creina’s husband Ross said the young family had been devastated by the loss.
“Even up to her last breath she was making sure everyone was doing okay and well in their own lives before her own,” Ross said.
“Her kids Noah, six, and Oscar, five, have been raised by the most caring person I have ever met, she would move heaven and earth to ensure those boys grow up into fantastic, well-mannered, and well-rounded young men.
“I can’t express in words how much we are going to miss her, she has left a massive hole in our worlds. I don’t feel the shoes she left could ever be filled.”
Ross also thanked Creina’s doctors and the NHS Fife palliative care team who helped her to return home before she died.
“She left with so much love and gratitude for the hard work her care teams put into getting her home so she could have her final weeks in the place she loved the most with the people she loved the most,” he said.
After Creina received the devastating news in February, an online fundraising page was set up by her sister, Judith O’Leary, to help her young family cope financially.
Nearly £30,000 was raised by kind-hearted locals to help, and the money will now go towards Creina’s funeral.
‘We are so grateful’
Ross said the whole family was grateful and “humbled” by the generosity they had been shown by people they knew and strangers.
“We can’t thank everyone enough or even individually, but we are definitely humbled by it as the sums raised have just brought us to our knees with gratitude,” he added.
Creina bravely shared her treatment in an online blog, providing readers with an insight into what living with the disease is really like.
She also shared her experiences of chemotherapy, providing valuable insight for people who might be about to begin treatment and be unsure what to expect.
After being told she had only a few months to live, Creina wrote: “It’s strange knowing you are going to die and how you deal with that news, it’s very surreal.
“I tried googling but it is all bucket lists or metaphorically speaking. I guess all I can do is do what’s right for me, I am as always focusing on the positives.”
For more information on Creina’s fundraiser, click here
