Ref. 29658-24SWINDON CANCER APPEAL: BERYL Cotterill's poignant account of her fight against cancer was one of many which spurred fundraisers into action when we launched the appeal.

In the last 12 months, Beryl's condition has worsened, but her fighting spirit has not weakened.

Beryl, 67, was told she had just months to live after surgeons discovered tumours spreading from her ovaries to her womb, bowel and pelvis.

But with the help of her Macmillan nurse, Beryl, of Wheeler Avenue, Upper Stratton, defied the grim prognosis.

The disease has now spread to her lungs, and she is in more pain, but her remarkable strength of character still shines through.

And this is despite the fact she Beryl knows her life is slowly ebbing away.

"I just take every day as it comes," she said.

"The most important thing is that you must keep your spirits up, you cannot let your guard down. I have cancer, and there is nothing I can do about that, but you have got to take the bad with the good. I feel as miserable as hell sometimes, but I do also have good days.

"All things considered, I don't think I'm doing to badly."

Beryl enjoys going out with her husband Bert, 66, for drives in the country and pub lunches, and keeps herself busy doing knitting, sewing and cooking.

Without the help of her Macmillan nurses, Beryl says she would find it hard to keep up the strength she needs to prevent the disease ruining her life.

She said: "I don't know what I would do without her.

"We talk about all sorts of things.

"I discuss how I am feeling, and whether the pain is getting worse.

"To have more nurses for Swindon would be wonderful.

"Unless you know someone with cancer, you do not know how important the nurses are.

"It is a terrible disease."

Beryl now has to make a decision about having chemotherapy because the cancer has spread.

But it made her so ill when she was first diagnosed that she is reluctant to undergo further treatment.

She said: "I made me so ill last time, I might not have it.

"The course lasts three months, but if I don't last that long anyway it won't be worth it."

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Tamash Lal