The brave Scots mum-of-four who was crocheting shawls for the grandchildren she will never meet has died aged just 33.
Leah Gunn had terminal cancer – which she blamed on a series of NHS bungles.
Her cervical cancer spread to her bones and her bowel, giving her no long-term chance of survival.
She was on a drug trial which she hoped would extend her life for a few years but she had to stop taking it because it wasn’t working.
Two weeks after we told her story she ended up in Edinburgh’s Western Infirmary crippled in pain. She was later transferred to the Marie Curie Hospice.
She died on July 31.
In the last few weeks of her life she was crocheting delicate shawls for her children, Morgan, 15, Gary, 11, Nathan, six, and 18-month-old Zac to give to their future babies.
She said at the time: “I have started to knit and crochet Morgan a shawl for her first baby. I am planning to do shawls for all of my children for when they have their own first child because I won’t be there.”
And she urged young women to go for smear tests in the hope of preventing what has happened to her.
She said: “I always went for a smear test but I was pregnant with Zac when my smear was due so I was almost a year over my time.”
Smear tests are done every three years after a woman turns 25 but Leah believes the intervals are too long and women should have them earlier.
“They say there is no need for smears under 25 because you are unlikely to get it under that age but clearly that isn’t true. The age needs to be lowered because children are sexually active a lot younger now.”
She explained: “When they opened me up, they discovered the cancer had already spread to my lymph nodes. They removed 16.
"They didn’t give me a hysterectomy because they said they were doing that to prevent it spreading but as it had already spread there was no point.
“I still think they should have done it.”
After weeks of treatment she was initially given the all-clear before being told the cancer was still there.
And on December 15 last year she received the devastating news that it was now terminal. She said: “Within four months of me being given the all-clear, I had terminal cancer. It had spread to my bones so they said there was nothing more they could do.”
Dr Tracey Gillies, Medical Director, NHS Lothian, previously said: “I would like to express our sympathy and apologise for the distress Ms Gunn and her family are experiencing at this devastating time.
"This was a rapid and sudden progression, which unfortunately can be in keeping with this type of cancer.”
Leah’s friend had begun to fundraise so the family could go on one last holiday together and the brave mum dreamed of taking the children to a water park in Spain.
But Covid restrictions coupled with her rapidly deteriorating illness meant it was not possible.
Leah leaves behind her partner Gary Gilchrist as well as her four children.
