Kirsten was very reluctant to go to a doctor as though she had nothing serious. After she was forced by friends and family for a week or so, Kirsten decided to visit a doctor. After blood tests, it was confirmed that she had Acute promyelocytic leukemia - a cancer of the white blood cells. However, Neil recounted that his daughter remained positive after the detection of cancer.
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"It was weird hearing the doctors say how ill she actually was because she was sitting there laughing and joking with me. Kirsten was not the type of girl who would moan or complain. She wasn’t a ‘why me?’ type. She was so strong-willed and she just planned to fight it and get on with life. She would never have given up fighting because of her daughter - she idolized her and completely loved her to bits. But sadly things were taken out of her control," Neil said.
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Apart from his wife, Neil’s family also had his son who was 16-year-old. They were all shocked when they heard that Kirsten had suffered a bleed on the brain. He said that the whole family just went completely numb. He added that it didn’t feel real at the moment to be honest.
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“When we were told it was leukemia I asked ‘why Kirsten?’ ‘Was it anything she did?’ ‘Could it not have been picked up when she had her daughter’? But doctors said ‘she is just unlucky’. There is no reason. She wasn’t a smoker - she drank very little, she was a hardworking, loving and gorgeous mum, daughter and granddaughter. We would not usually speak out like this but it was Kirsten’s last wish. We have had so much support from family and friends and have even had messages from people who don’t even know us which is overwhelming. We are devastated and I don’t know what we would have done without Penelope. But we will make sure she never forgets her mum,” said Neil.
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