Mum of Jade Shovlin pays tribute on what would have been her 22nd birthday after tragic cancer death

Jade was diagnosed with the rare form of cancer in May last year, with doctors originally giving the then 20-year-old around two years to live.

Fundraising efforts were launched in an effort to give Jade and her family the trip of a lifetime to go and swim with pigs in The Bahamas however she sadly passed away on August 12, aged 21.

Jade, who worked as a carer at Falstone Manor in Roker, tragically left behind mum Sharron, brother Matthew and sisters Jessica and Jennifer.

Sharron, from Roker, has spoken about how hard the last year has been and revealed plans to celebrate Jade’s special day on Saturday, July 17.

The 47-year-old said: “It has been extremely difficult without Jade, a parent who loses a child is just a totally different type of grieving – nobody knows what it is like unless they’ve been through it.

"She is a huge miss and it is so tough to try and move on, everything just always feels different.

"I’ve been dreading both July and August but we are planning on just getting in the car and heading up to Northumberland for the day.

"We’ll be having some nice food when we are out and Jade would want us to party, that helps us all a lot.”

Sharron also wants members of the public to be aware of the symptoms that Jade had before she was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus.

She added: “Jade’s cancer was so rare that even the doctors and nurses didn’t really know how to treat it properly.

"It all just started with a pain in her side and then what I suppose can only be described as heartburn.

"At first she was given treatment for heartburn but Jade knew her own body and she knew that something was wrong with her.

"It is such a horrible illness and what it did to Jade was devastating so I’d like people to be aware of it.”

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