Yesterday, Mother’s Day, Carol Vorderman shared the heart-breaking news that her lovely mum Jean, has terminal cancer.
Despite the tragic revelation Jean, who is 88, spent a celebratory day surrounded by her family.
She enjoyed a special lunch near her Bristol home with her children, grandchildren and her one great grandchild.
Carol, 56, shared a joyful and said: “We are laughing so much and she is having a lovely time. She refuses to let us be sad so we are taking our lead from her.”
The former Loose Women host revealed how she had rushed her mother to hospital the previous weekend, as she was suffering intense pain.
Tests revealed multiple tumours – and the family was told she had incurable cancer.
Jean, has previously battled three attacks of the illness over the past 14 years, undergoing arduous chemotherapy and surgery.
In Carol’s 2010 autobiography, the I’m A Celebrity star wrote that her family was “rocked” and “in a state of turmoil” when they first discovered Jean had ovarian cancer in 2003, after falling ill over that Christmas.
Four years later, Jean was diagnosed with an unrelated cancerous tumour on her kidney, which resulted in part of the organ being cut away.
Then in 2015, she was diagnosed with skin cancer, and had a malignant melanoma removed from her head.
The stage one tumour, four centimetres in length, was removed via keyhole surgery, along with half her kidney.
This time, she does not want treatment.
“At my age I don’t want to undergo any further operations or chemotherapy treatment which can’t cure these new cancers anyway,” she told the Mirror.
“Now my family and me will concentrate on being happy and celebrating the time we have together. I’m refusing to let them be sad.”
You can see where Carol has got her stoicism from.