A terminally-ill mother has admitted feeling “blessed” to be able to spend another Christmas Day with her children months after she was told by the doctors she didn’t have much time left.
It was March when doctors informed 28-year-old Jennifer Bell that she has motor neuron disease and no more than nine months left among the living.
Despite the dire diagnosis, the single mum decided to stay alive for as long as possible in order to spend at least one more Christmas together with her two young children.
“Christmas is just around the corner and the fact I’ll be here is a miracle to me. I feel blessed. We are having a big family dinner for Christmas so we are very excited,” Jennifer expressed in an interview just days before Christmas.
“I just feel at peace, happy and content that I’m so well and getting to cherish a very special day with my girls and all my family.”
While symptoms such as speech impairment slowly began dictating the mum’s life, she expressed feeling blessed to have the opportunity to spend more time with her kids and explain to them that she won’t be around much longer.
“I find my strength from my two girls. They are my world and everyday I have seeing them growing up, laughing, telling me they love me, I know they need me,” the 28-year-old added.
“I’ll fight with every breath in my body to be here looking after them for as long as I possibly can. And although it’s an awful situation I’m also very lucky in so many ways.
“I’ve brought two beautiful children into the world, I’ve almost completed my bucket list, I’ve achieved a university degree, I’ve had the opportunity to do so many things some people never get to do in life and it’s made me into a stronger person. I won’t ever lie down to this disease I’ll fight it with everything I’ve got.”
While the nine months she was given to live by her doctors have already expired, the mum said she will keep on fighting for as long as possible.
“They have said ‘we aren’t talking years, we are talking months’ but I think I might just prove them wrong. My oldest daughter has a good grasp of what’s going on and we are making special memories everyday,” Jennifer added.
“Sometimes she will ask ‘Mummy when are you going to heaven?’ and I just say to her ‘nobody knows when God will take us so we have to be happy and make special memories everyday.’”
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