A woman who lost her best friend and her father to the same terminal illness says she “knew what was coming”.
Tianna-Marie Shellard faced grief early in life when she lost her best friend Lauren – only to experience it all over again when her dad passed away too.
Devastatingly, the same disease robbed Tianna of two people she loved dearly.
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“I thought ‘I’ve been here before, I know what’s coming’,” Tianna, who lives in Barry, Wales, told Need To Know.
“But I was also desensitised to it – I didn’t cry at my dad’s funeral.
“My brother was only 13 at the time and my heart broke for him.
“Even now it still doesn’t feel real, it feels like I’m remembering someone else’s memories, not like I actually lived through it.”
The 27-year-old forensic psychology student paid tribute to her childhood friend Lauren Powell, whose death brought her first experience with real loss.
The two met when they were just children and Tianna says Lauren was an “incredible girl” and “one of the funniest people I have ever known”.
She was just 16 when Lauren became ill and was diagnosed with a DIPG (diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma), a highly aggressive, incurable brain tumour.
Lauren passed away in March 2015 at the age of 16, just months after being diagnosed.
Tianna chooses to remember Lauren for her sense of humour.
She added: “Right up until the end, her sense of humour never went away.
“You couldn’t be in a room with Lauren without smiling and laughing.
“She was also a part of the sea cadets and was one of the cadets chosen to meet President Obama when he came to Cardiff for NATO.”
However, Tianna says she struggled to deal with the loss.
She said: “Her funeral was the first one I ever attended and I still remember it like it was yesterday.
“Grief is a very strange feeling and it was heartbreaking.
“Seeing her mum and dad and younger sisters try to navigate through the grief was really hard.”
Tianna remains close with Lauren’s family, particularly her sister, who was just 12 when her sibling passed away.
She added: “I see and speak to her family regularly and speak to her sister every day.
“Her youngest sister Emmaleigh is now one of my best friends, and I am the godmother to her son, and was recently a bridesmaid at her wedding.”
Just five years after Lauren passed away, Tianna’s father, John Powell, fell ill too.
In 2020, John started suffering from migraines, which Tianna says “seemed to come out of nowhere”.
Despite a trip to the opticians, where he was assured everything was fine, John ended up in hospital with severe headaches.
Scans showed John had an inoperable glioblastoma, a tumour that was growing aggressively and rapidly.
With Covid restrictions in place, John was cared for at home by Tianna’s mother, who had been with him for 25 years.
He passed away just six weeks after his diagnosis, at age 44.
Tianna added: “This was also right in the heart of Covid so it meant that we got to spend a lot more time with my dad than he would have if he was in hospital.”
Having already walked this path before, Tianna says she knew what was coming almost immediately.
She said: “This experience was one of the hardest I have ever been through.
“As soon as my dad was in A&E, before he even had the scans, I kind of knew.”
Tianna shared her regret over the many things her friend and father have missed over the years.
She added: “There have been so many parts of my life that my dad has had to miss out on.
“He didn’t get to see me graduate from university, he didn’t get to see me get married and will never know my baby son.
“Lauren passed away at 16 and never got to experience any of those things for herself.
“A cure simply cannot wait. Something must be done.”
Now, Tianna is preparing to honour both her best friend and her father by completing a 10,000ft skydive to raise money for The Brain Tumour Charity.
A JustGiving page has been set up for the challenge.
Tianna has fully self-funded the skydive, meaning every penny raised will go directly to the charity.
She added: “Me and my dad did a skydive 10 years ago for my 18th birthday and he always wanted to do it again.
“This May, my dad would have been turning 50, so it seems like the perfect way to honour him.
“I am doing this not only to try and raise money for the charity, but also to raise awareness around the disease.”
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