A DEVOTED mum is planning a pilgrimage to Japan in honour of her son, who passed away after bravely fighting a rare cancer.
Scott Hughes, from Glasgow, wrote a bucket list when he was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma in 2011, aged just 21.
Sadly, he lost his battle with the bone disease before he could fulfil all of his dreams.
His mum, Audrey, plans to do as much of the list as she can in his honour.
“Scott did travel to Japan shortly before he died,” she explained. “But he fell ill almost immediately and was rushed to hospital, before being flown home just two days after he arrived.
“He didn’t have the chance to do or see anything, so I promised him I would go back for him. We’ll take his ashes and scatter them.”
Fun-loving Scott also had the chance to meet the Scotland team and manager Gordon Strachan at Hampden, chatted with comedian Kevin Bridges and organised a fancy dress football match before he died.
But there were other things on the list, like taking a ride in a hot air balloon, which he didn’t have the chance to do.
Audrey, also mum to Jenna and Michael, watched her son make umpteen trips to the GP before he was diagnosed with a massive tumour in his pelvis.
“He’d been going to the doctor for a while because he couldn’t put on weight and they said he had high metabolism,” Audrey continued.
“I look back now and think it might have been in his system for a while.
“When he worked in McDonald’s he hurt his back and that seemed to be where it really started. Doctors said the pain was muscular but when his right leg started to deteriorate I took him to the doctor and an emergency hospital appointment was ordered.”
In November 2011, having lost two stone and in constant pain, Scott was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a cancer found in the bone or soft tissue, in his pelvis.
Surgeons wouldn’t operate due to the chance of Scott being left paralysed, so he went through two rounds of chemotherapy. The tumour shrank but another one, this time in his leg, was discovered in the summer of 2013. Doctors broke the devastating news it was terminal.
“He asked how long he had left and they told him six to 12 months,” Audrey recalled.
“He just said ‘OK, I better crack on then’. He took it in his stride – that’s the type of person he was. Scott was very funny. He had a dry sense of humour and was the class clown at school.
“I sank into my seat when they gave us the news, but because of his attitude I was able to stay strong, too.”
The local community in Castlemilk organised a fun day to raise money for Scott to go to Japan and the Beatson Cancer Charity also helped the family in its hour of need.
“The Beatson did so much for us – they supported us through it all,” she added.
“Any fundraising the family does now is for the Beatson. I do the Beatson Walk every year and my daughter and her partner have done the women’s 10k for the charity.”
Audrey is backing the annual Beatson Bauble Appeal, where everyone touched by the centre’s care is encouraged to hang a special Beatson-branded bauble on their Christmas tree.
Anyone wishing to receive a Beatson Bauble should visit beatsoncancercharity.org, call 0141 212 0505 or email info@beatsoncancercharity.org
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