A mum-of-three from Bury St Edmunds has set out a bucket list after being told her cancer is incurable, leaving her children devastated.
Amanda Clark was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018 and had a double mastectomy followed by a gruelling course of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
The cancer then spread to her lymph nodes so doctors removed them, but she was later diagnosed with stage four bone cancer, and has been told she only has years to live.
Miss Clark, mum to Lauren, 23, Haydn, 15 and Tyler, five, said her children were "devastated" at the news of her diagnosis, but said she is staying strong for her family.
Miss Clark added: "When I first got told I had cancer in 2018, my two eldest children were with me.
"They were all sat there crying, but I said oh, ok, so where do we go from here? No tears and I didn't get upset, I started treatment and it made me feel terrible and I did get a bit emotional through that time, but I never ever thought that I would be dying from it.
"I was never really discharged from the hospital as I suffered from sepsis but a couple of months after I finished my treatment for the cancer I started feeling pains in my arms and I thought straight away the cancer is back.
"I went back in hospital for sepsis, when they came to me and told me that the cancer was back in my bones.
"I knew then a secondary cancer was incurable, but then I didn't really cry, I was on hospital on my own they pulled the curtains round me.
"But after everyone left I just started to cry, it just sort of hit me that I am going to die of this now, and I still quite haven't got my head around it."
Miss Clark has now set up a bucket list of things she would like to do with her family. She originally planned to go on holiday to Alaska to see the boats from the television series 'Deadliest Catch', but given the long flight and minus temperatures she is not able to travel there.
Instead, she will be completing a one-mile fundraising walk on Sunday, May 2 to help drum up the funds so they can go on one last family holiday to Cornwall.
"I have never been on a plane with my kids and I always promised them I would show them the beautiful clear sea in Cornwall so this covers what I promised them," explained Miss Clark.
"It will also be the last time I spend a holiday with my whole family which will be amazing for me."
Miss Clark, who started palliative treatment earlier this month to help slow down the cancer, said: "Cornwall has always been a favourite place of mine and my mother, who passed away from breast cancer in 2016."
The 56-year-old said she will still be trying to make as many memories as she can with her family, and any money left over will go towards days out to places like the zoo, to allow her to make some final memories with her children.
Speaking about the fundraising challenge, she said: "Anyone who knows me knows this walk is like a marathon.
"Due to my treatment I struggle to breathe after walking five feet. I also have osteoarthritis in my knees and fibromyalgia but will be on strong pain relief."
Miss Clark, who used to manage the Busy Bee's Nursery in Stowmarket, classes herself as "one of the lucky ones" as she still has some time with her children.
She added: "I have been given this extra time and although I know it is going to get me eventually, but at the moment I feel ok and it would just be so lovely to go away with my kids."
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