Brave mother Natalie loses her fight with leukaemia
A BEXHILL couple learned of a daughter’s battle with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia when she appeared on television talking about her revolutionary treatment.
Now they are paying tribute to the 35-year-old woman who died on Sunday, who they say displayed strength and humour many can only dream of.
Natalie Langworthy was living in Australia when she was told she had just three weeks to live but upped sticks with her partner and child to be treated by Professor Max Topp in Germany.
The first dad David and stepmum Hazel, of Sandown Way, knew was when a friend rang to say Natalie was on BBC South East News.
She was in remission and had come home to England to see friends, “all guns firing” according to David because she appeared to be beating the disease.
They also found out she had a partner, Andy, and baby girl Elkie who was less than a year old.
The couple was then contacted by Andy and welcomed back into her life as if they’d never been away.
David and Hazel visited Natalie in Germany and forged precious bonds with her, Andy and their grand-daughter.
“We had a lovely time,” said David.
“She was well, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.”
Now they are trying to come to terms with the loss of a woman who never flinched from the fight.
She showed courage and determination to the end – in fact her last text message to David from her hospital bed in Wurzburg was to ask him the rugby scores in the Six Nations cup.
Natalie had been treated with the drug Blinotumomab but then faced an onslaught of complications the like of which had never been seen in trial before, beginning with stomach pains.
Step-mum Hazel told how tumours and symptoms developed which Natalie fought one by one until it transpired she had myloid leukaemia.
She had her bowel removed, tubes into her lungs, stents in her veins, repeated chemotherapy, and at one point endured two hour kidney surgery without an anaesthetic.
Natalie was determined to continue with the drugs trial however, and said this was her way of “leaving a legacy.”
“It had never happened before,” said Hazel.
“And although she was fighting all the time you could see she was physically going downhill. But mentally she was so strong.
“She had so much courage and strength and emotion but in the end it overtook her and she slipped away.
“It has been a rollercoaster for us, we have been up and down, in and out, but at the moment we are accepting her passing because she couldn’t take any more. She fought so hard and I have never seen anybody fight as hard as her.”
David and Hazel, who met while working in Collington Avenue’s Thrift House in 1984, are now waiting to hear what arrangements are to be made for a memorial service but are planning to send money to Andy to help with bills rather than make the trip out.
Meanwhile David is touched that staff held a vigil for an hour on the morning she died.
He said: “Some people say because you expect it, it is not going to hurt you, but it is difficult when it actually happens.”
He remembered the adventurous spirit that took his daughter to the States on a whim when she was just 21 and a qualified soccer coach who was offered a place at Regis University in Denver.
She was also an international level referee but switched career paths to become a graphic artist, which was how she ended up as an illustrator in Australia.
David praised her strength and said: “Nothing fazed her. She was still planning her wedding and talking about going back to Australia. I am sure most dads think their daughters are amazing. But she fought so hard and she went through so much.”
For further details of Natalie’s story go to www.flyingfishonline.com where her partner Andy Fairclough has put information and also an appeal for funds.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Bexhill-on-Sea
Monday 28 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: South west
