£3,500 raised in memory of Northampton woman who passed from breast cancer - but defied odds and lived to watch children grow up

More than £3,500 has been raised in memory of a Northampton woman who passed away from breast cancer earlier this year.

Claire Williams-Harding was diagnosed when she was 30 and passed away aged 45 – but defied the odds the doctors gave her and lived to watch her children grow up, as she had hoped.

She was given a less than 30 percent chance of seeing her son start school, but watched him sit his GCSEs ahead of his 18th birthday.

Claire also carried a baby whilst on treatment and saw her daughter start secondary school – but unfortunately will not be able to watch her son turn 18 later this month, which she was “desperate” to do.

Her sister Louise Williams said: “After being told about the chance of how long she would live, Claire didn’t want to know about any more stats.

“She was adamant she wasn’t just a statistic and wanted to fight it until the very end, which she did for so many years.

“Claire was an extremely caring person and put everybody else before herself.

“She always asked what she could do to help others – even up until the last six months of her life she constantly offered to help me with my children in any way possible.”

Claire’s diagnosis came as a “massive shock” to her family, especially as she was only 30 years old at the time.

After Claire’s passing, in June Louise suggested doing an afternoon tea to raise money for Breast Cancer Now in memory of her beloved sister and to mark Claire’s upcoming birthday.

The afternoon tea snowballed into a garden party, where the turnout expanded from just friends and family to work colleagues, neighbours, and friends of friends.

There was a raffle, auction – which many people kindly donated items to – and crafts available on the day, alongside the afternoon tea, which helped the family exceed the £3,500 mark in their fundraising efforts.

“We were overwhelmed by the support,” said Louise. “You put so much hard work and time into an event like this and wonder if anyone is going to turn up, so we were so pleased.”

Louise says she knows Claire would be over-the-moon if she knew this amount of money was going to support those in a similar situation to what she experienced.

“She was an advocate of the NHS and was so grateful for the work they did to help her as best as they could,” said Louise.

After being on chemotherapy, having a double mastectomy, a number of miscarriages, a medical stillbirth, and a reconstruction, the family says without “the fantastic research and excellent care” they would not have had as many years with Claire.

When Breast Cancer Now were informed of how much money had been raised, they praised the family for the “absolutely massive achievement” as it was “beyond what they expected”.