Celebrating Zoë's life
In lieu of flowers for the funeral the family are asking for donations to two charities that are very close to our hearts.
Zoë's Story
Zoë was diagnosed with a grade 4 Astrocytoma, a type of incurable brain tumour in March 2021. She endured two lengthy brain surgeries; radiotherapy and six cycles of chemotherapy. In addition to what was offered on the NHS, Zoë wore an Optune device on her head 24 hours a day and thanks to extremely generous crowdfunding, received a personalised cancer vaccine in Germany. All of these treatments gave her an excellent quality of life until the cancer recurred in January 2023 and when it did it was merciless, aggressive, relentless and resisted treatment.
It took just three months from the recurrence (picked up on a symptomless routine surveillance MRI) to her untimely death. Her disease very quickly robbed her of the quality of life she had fought so fiercely and successfully to regain and maintain after surgery. She had chronic daily nausea and regular headaches from mid-February, but in true Zoë style, she didn’t let this stop her achieving the things she wanted to achieve – such as visiting Parliament to campaign for additional funding for Brain Tumour research.
In the final month she suffered from visual disturbances (including double vision) and a loss of balance and mobility. In the final three weeks she became confused and had memory issues, and she slept for her final week of life. Zoe passed away peacefully on the 27th April 2023 and leaves behind husband Matty, her children John (7) and Mark (3) and a huge number of loving family and friends who have supported her tirelessly on this journey.
You can read more about Zoë's story on teamzoe.co.uk - we have chosen the following charities:
Charity 1 (50%) - Sue Ryder
Zoë spent 14 days in Sue Ryder, Cheltenham and their care and compassion was excellent and their support unwavering. They were there not just for Zoë, but for the whole family and that support made those final difficult days and hours easier. John and Mark quickly felt at ease visiting their mum at the hospice including a visit just after she had passed away, and we have no doubt that was due to the staff's professionalism and expertise.
Read more on sueryder.org
Charity 2 (50%) - Brain Tumour Research
Matthew strongly believes that outcomes for brain tumour patients can be improvement with substantial research and funding. Brain Tumours are the biggest cancer killer of the under 40s, including children, yet less that 2% of the national cancer research fund is spent to them. Brain Tumour Research campaign tirelessly to change that.
Read more on braintumourresearch.org
