Friends are raising money to grant a Suffolk mum her simple wish for ‘a nice garden in which to sit’ after she was diagnosed with two rare brain tumours and given 18 months to live.

Sigrid Malpass, known as ‘Sigi,’ was told she had a glioblastoma in March after she had a seizure in which she felt her eyes flickering and unable to control her movements.

Now her friend Clare Carr is raising money for improvements to the garden at Sigi’s Witnesham home, to include a new patio area with space for dining and coffee tables, as well as a sofa and a wheelchair ramp.

East Anglian Daily Times: Sigrid Malpass at her homeSigrid Malpass at her home (Image: Charlotte Bond)

She said: “We are a really close-knit village. We go away on weekends together and camping together.

“The dads like holidaying together so it has an impact and the children are all close and know each other well so the news has hit everybody hard and I wanted to do something that brought people together.”

Surgeons at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge were able to remove one of the tumours, but the second could not be removed due to its position in the brain and the 52-year-old has received both radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

East Anglian Daily Times: The community begins work on the garden at Sigrid Malpass' home. Picture: CLARE CARRThe community begins work on the garden at Sigrid Malpass' home. Picture: CLARE CARR (Image: CLARE CARR)

Mrs Carr said her friend had been in good health before the seizure happened ‘out of the blue.’

“She phoned me up and said ‘I think I have just had a seizure.’ She felt her eyes flickering and said she could not control it. It was a bizarre, shocking experience and she had never had one before.

“No one witnessed it. She said ‘something strange has happened and I have had a seizure.’ By the time I went round to her house she seemed ok, just in shock,” she added.

Mrs Malpass had scans at Ipswich Hospital which showed the tumours and was referred to Addenbrookes.

The friends discussed what could be done to help Public Health England employee Mrs Malpass, who has two children Tom, eight and Henry, nine, both at Witnesham Primary School.

“She did not want to go on a plane with a tumour and she said she would just like to sit in the garden. We are a community here and we can all help. People have tools and if anything it has proved to be a form of distraction therapy by everyone helping out with the project,” Mrs Carr added.

The foundations have already been laid for the garden project and a JustGiving page set up to raise money for the other works, which has already passed its £5,000 target.

To donate to the appeal, visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/willedrachelandclare-carr-1?utm_term=dQ6wakzZ6