belfasttelegraph

Saturday 25 May 2013

Dying teenager plans own funeral

Donna Shaw, 17, is planning her own funeral after being told her rare form of cancer is untreatable
Donna with her family at their home in Derby
The brave youngster shares a cuddle with her mother

A brave teenager is planning her own funeral after being told her rare form of cancer is untreatable.

Seventeen-year-old Donna Shaw was diagnosed with rare bone cancer Ewing's Sarcoma in February last year.

Despite surgery and chemotherapy, she has been told nothing more can be done so is now planning her final months and every detail of her own funeral.

Her mother Nikki Parker, 45, who has given up her job in a restaurant to be Donna's carer, said her daughter was an "inspiration" to everyone around her.

She said: "She has written everything out. She has asked six people she wants to carry her coffin, all friends and family.

"She has chosen everything, her songs, she has got a video of her she wants playing at the funeral, and the colours of the flowers."

Donna plans to wear her bridesmaid dress from when her mum married husband Mik Parker in October 2008, she said, and will have her favourite cuddly toy beside her. Men will wear pink ties - Donna's favourite colour - and after her cremation, she wants her ashes scattered off Brighton Pier.

She said after Donna was first diagnosed, she had surgery to remove 80% of the main tumour growing in her shoulder. She then underwent chemotherapy but was rushed into hospital a few weeks before Christmas with a chest infection.

Mrs Parker said: "On January 6 we had an appointment with our consultant who basically said the chemo has not been working. She had a cry, and swore and shouted and then came to terms with it."

Mrs Parker said once Donna knew her cancer was untreatable she decided she wanted to die in dignity.

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