SWINDON CANCER APPEAL: Former Evening Advertiser employee Terri Fisher has died following a 20-month battle against cancer.

Terri, from Swindon, was diagnosed with ovarian and bowel cancer in November 2002. She died at the Prospect Hospice, in Wroughton.

Last year Terri, 47, told the Advertiser how she knew something had been wrong long before the cancer was detected.

Terri said at the time: "I hadn't had a bowel movement for five months from mid-summer until I went into hospital for an operation in November.

"My stomach was swelling so badly I was frightened to eat. In the end I was eating and making myself sick because the food had nowhere else to come out.

"Doctors didn't know what was wrong. They did a laparotomy a procedure whereby my abdomen was opened up and found the cancer."

Terri, who used to work in credit control, had tumours on both her ovaries.

One was four centimetres wide while the other measured two-and-a-half centimetres. She also had secondary cancer in the bowel.

She said Macmillan nurses had helped her through the distressing first few months of her illness and gave her support to the Evening Advertiser's Swindon Cancer Appeal, which aims to raise £600,000 for the charity.

She added: "I want to be able to live properly for whatever time I have left. I never thought I'd feel that way but I want to be able to enjoy my life however long it turns out to be."

Terri leaves a daughter, Louise, who is in her 20s, husband Adrian, and six brothers and sisters. The Swindon Cancer Appeal aims to help people like Terri through their illnesses.

The cash will pay for two specialist Macmillan nurses and a consultant in palliative care, who will support people living with cancer in Swindon and Marlborough.

To register your fundraising event contact appeal manager Graziella Campisano on 01793 601636, or visit the appeal office at Ambrose House, Milton Road, Swindon.

The total raised to date stands at £373,566.

Alex Emery