A mum who beat breast cancer and then lost her husband to a sudden blood clot now has just 12 months to live – and is trying to raise £70,000 for treatment that could give her more time with her son.
Keelie Towler, from Wakefield, is in a desperate fight for her life after being told her cancer has returned and spread to her brain earlier this year.
The devastating news comes just two years after she lost her partner, Scott, 33, who collapsed and died from a blood clot in front of her and their young son Rupert, now five.
A fundraiser has been set up to help her raise the money needed for specialist treatment abroad that could buy her more time.
“I just want to see my little boy grow up,” the 36-year-old told Need To Know.
“He’s already lost his dad – I don’t want him to lose me too.
“I wake up every morning wondering how long I’ve got left – but I won’t stop fighting for him.
“[When I first noticed the lump], I thought it would be something simple.
“I honestly expected the doctor to send me home with reassurance.
“When they said it could be cancer, my whole body just went numb.
“I didn’t hear anything else after that.
“All I could think about was my little boy.
“I remember sitting in the waiting room trying to stay calm, but deep down I knew something was wrong.”
When first diagnosed, Keelie immediately began treatment with seven months of chemotherapy followed by surgery.
This was followed by another 13 rounds of chemo and 15 sessions of radiotherapy.
Following her gruelling treatment plan and many setbacks, Keelie finally received good news – the cancer had responded.
With things looking up, the mum and her partner, Scott, decided to sell their home and buy a bigger house, ready to settle into family life with Rupert.
She said: “After everything we’d been through, it finally felt like we could breathe.
“We were excited to move forward – just the three of us.
“It felt like the start of a new chapter, and I genuinely thought the worst was behind us.”
But heartbreak struck again when Scott suddenly collapsed at home and passed away from a blood clot at the age of 33.
Keelie and Rupert, then just two years old, were both there when it happened.
She said: “It was traumatising.
“He was the love of my life.
“One minute we were talking, the next he was gone.
“I had to stay strong for Rupert, but inside I was shattered.”
Despite the devastating loss, Keelie continued to rebuild her and her son’s lives – until more health concerns crept in.
She began suffering from symptoms she couldn’t ignore, including persistent headaches and coordination problems.
She said, “I just didn’t feel right.
“At first, I thought it was stress or grief, but then it got worse.
“I couldn’t ignore it anymore – I knew something wasn’t right.”
In January 2024, she went to the hospital with what she believed was a pulled muscle in her chest.
But a routine scan revealed the cancer had spread to her brain.
At first, doctors hoped gamma knife treatment – a form of targeted radiation – might help.
And for a while, the tumour began to shrink as Keelie clung to the hope that the treatment was working.
But months later, she started experiencing new symptoms and returned for another scan.
The results were crushing – the cancer had begun growing again.
She said, “I felt like the rug had been pulled from under me all over again.
“I’d let myself believe it was finally going the right way, hearing it was growing again just broke me.
“It was like reliving the original diagnosis, but this time I knew what it meant – and that was the scariest part.”
Despite the tumour being dangerously close to a major artery, surgeons agreed to operate.
Keelie underwent brain surgery in February 2025 but suffered a stroke during the procedure, which left her unable to move the right side of her body or speak.
Sadly, by the time her follow-up scan came around, the tumour had already grown back.
Doctors have now told her the cancer is terminal and she has just 12 to 18 months to live.
If the worst happens, Rupert will be cared for by Keelie’s mum, Colleen, and stepdad, Steve.
But his mum is doing everything she can to make memories with him now while trying to raise money for the treatment in Mexico.
Timeline:
- Rupert was born in 2020
- Keelie was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021
- She was given the all-clear in late 2022
- Her husband Scott died from a blood clot in early 2023
- Keelie was rediagnosed in January 2024 when the cancer was found in her brain
- She was told it was terminal in mid-2025 after surgery didn’t work and given 12–18 months to live
