After she was diagnosed with a fatal brain tumour, 26-year-old Gemma Oliver set out to enjoy her last months with her family, doing all her favourite things one last time. Chris Jones reports.
RISING from the seat of her wheelchair, Gemma Oliver stepped slowly forward on to the soft sands of the beach and looked out across the sea for the final time.
As she took some small, unsteady steps, feeling the give of the grains beneath her shoes, she knew she would never again catch the whip and sting of a seaside breeze or hear the soft crash of surf upon the shore.
So she took it all in deeply.
The 26-year-old knew that she would not live out the year. But despite this, she was happy.
Inside her head a brain tumour was growing, soon to be joined by another and one more, and the sharp intelligence which had won her a good job with bright prospects was soon to falter, as her body succumbed.
But for now, this was perfect. With her family beside her and the savoury taste of fish and chips still clinging to her lips, Gemma looked out across the seafront of Whitby and smiled.
Her brother, Richard, said the trip was one of the things Gemma had wanted to do after finding out she had a terminal growth in June 2012.
The 28-year-old, of Belper, said the diagnosis had come as a devastating shock.
He said: "It all happened so quickly. Gemma was healthy, happy and successful. She had a job at Cooper Parry, as an accountant and she was happy with her partner, Morgan Bertin.
"For the last year or so, she had suffered from fatigue but it's not something you immediately start worrying about.
"Then she started to complain of getting headaches. I told her not to worry and calm down at first but, luckily, she ignored her brother.
"She went to the doctors, some tests were carried out, and they found a golf ball-sized tumour on her brain."
Within a few days, Gemma had undergone an operation to tackle the tumour at the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham.
"It got rid of as much of the tumour as Gemma could have hoped for," said Richard. "But the bad news was that we were told it was a grade four tumour, which is the worst category. It meant we knew then that it would be terminal.
"It was horrible news which took us a long time to really understand. I was going to lose my sister, who I was so close to. And Mum was going to lose her daughter. And Gemma knew she was going to die. It's so hard to explain how all that felt."
From this point on, there was little which could realistically be done, but Richard said it did not stop Gemma trying.
He said: "She had another operation planned but doctors found a second tumour and then a third. And we even looked at treatment in America. But in the end we couldn't go."
It was at this time that Gemma started to make a small list of things she wanted to do with the time she had left. Richard said: "It wasn't a flashy, expensive list. It was just a few things which meant a lot to her and which she could do with her family and people she loved."
Gemma told her family – including mum Dorothy, dad Keith, brother Richard and sister Charlotte Forster – some of the things she wanted to do.
They included going to see Beyonce in concert, watching Richard's two-year-old son, Alfie, swim, going for a family meal, making a visit to France and a trip to the Whitby seaside.
Richard said: "In her life, she had spent a lot time in France and she loved it and wanted one chance to go back. In the end she was just too weak to go, but she did manage the trip to Whitby.
"It was somewhere she had gone with Morgan and wanted to go back, somewhere she had loved. My wife, Emily, and I took her to see Beyonce in Manchester and it was worth it to see her dancing again.
"She also wanted to go to Longleat Safari Park, in Wiltshire, to see some animals there but again, she was just too ill to go in the end."
But despite managing to fill her final year with friends, family and fun, Richard said his sister still went through moments of despair.
He said: "She was young, healthy and bright. She didn't smoke, never drank to excess. And yet this was happening to her, really happening. She had times where she said she felt she had been dealt a bad hand and that was hard. But she never got angry. She just came back with determination to enjoy her time.
"She had to pack the life she had missed out on into her last few months. It was so inspiring."
Gemma died on June 14. Towards the end of her life she spent a lot of time at Rainbows Hospice, in Loughborough, which gave her end-of-life care.
Richard said: "The staff at Rainbows went above and beyond. Even if we had been millionaires we could not have paid for better care. The nurses attended to everything, for Gemma and for us. We were there at the last moments, when she took her last breath, and being able to do that as a family was hard but we were so thankful to be able to do it."
He said he and his parents were still coming to terms with Gemma's death.
"What do you do when you lose someone that close? It's so hard to believe it has happened, that there won't be another Christmas with her, that I won't get to talk to her any more.
"And it comes through sometimes, the truth, like that. She has gone. But then I realise that she will always, to us, be that young, beautiful, bright Gemma, for as long as we live."
Her funeral was held at St Michael's Church, Holbrook, with more than 140 people attending, helping to raise more than £2,500 for Rainbows as a result.
Danny Parker, head of audit at Cooper Parry, paid tribute to Gemma.
He said: "Gemma was an incredible young woman and a real inspiration to anyone who knew her. She was an integral member of our audit team and had a great rapport with our clients.
"She had an exciting career ahead of her and will be sorely missed by everyone at Cooper Parry."
Anyone who wants to donate to the family's Rainbows fund should visit www.justgiving.com/in memoryofgemma.
