Thelma Rance Biography - Chapter 17 Extract

Extracts from Chapter 17 of 'Mother Becomes Stardust'. See my other blog posts for more details about this book, which is about my late Mother's struggle with the twin effects of breast cancer and a stroke.

Chapter 17 - Chinks of Light (extract)

I would walk up to Cedar Falls with stuff like The Sex Pistols 'Pretty Vacant' on the MP4 player. It'd get me to get me pumped up as I strode towards the home. It'd feel almost like a marching song at the beginning, and prepare me for any confrontations.

Mum has another hospital appointment, on October 4th. Dad was buried 10 years ago on this date, so another thing to think about.

The writing work had been picking up again, but in the morning I get an email from a writing website informing me that they're letting most of their writers go. You couldn't make it up really. No wonder the doctor in the hospital asks if I'm okay, as I'm obviously looking stressed.

At Cedar Falls, Mum enjoys her orange juice: "Oooh. Lovely." Since her stroke, Mother seems to be more enthusiastic about things she likes, and more angry about things she doesn't.

Mum, up until her stroke, had a photographic memory. She was a big film buff, as well as having wide-ranging musical tastes. Mum would rattle off names of obscure film stars from the '40s and '50s, and name films that they were in. I remember telling her that Morrissey, whose first name is Steven, was named after B-movie actor Steve Cochran. Mozza has said that he didn't think anyone would know who Cochran was, but my Mum did.

There's still good signs re Mum's fight against the dreadful disease. I'm regularly told that the cancer that's already there can only be contained and not eradicated. I'm aware of that, but I appreciate the honesty.

I've bought a Charlie George autobiography for Vaughan, my bus driver and Arsenal fan, as a leaving present. Another driver I liked, Mick, had left in July. I tell Mum: "Reading about (former Gunners star) Charlie George. Do you remember him?" Mum: "Yes, I remember him." She actually remembered a lot of football stars from the early 1970s, especially players at Arsenal, Leeds United, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Everton, West Ham, Spurs, and Chelsea - though she wasn't into football. Mum had a soft spot for gentleman footballers, including Bobby Moore, Bob Wilson and Frank McLintock. But Mum also liked George Best...

What's Not in the Book...

Thanks for those of you who have bought 'Mother Becomes Stardust'. This article includes some stuff that's not in the book.

http://www.booksmusicfilmstv.com/MumAndI.html

A Thank You

Thanks to everyone who showed my Mum and I kindness over the past two years. I've mentioned as many people as possible in the acknowledgements section of a book detailing my Mum's final months - 'Mother Becomes Stardust'.

The book is now out on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com in both Kindle and paperback format. Click the 'look inside' link on the Kindle links, and then scroll down to see the names mentioned in the acknowledgements.

Amazon.com paperback
http://www.amazon.com/Mother-Becomes-Stardust-Paul-Rance/dp/1479237930/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1347110309&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=Mother+Becomes+Stardust+paperback

Amazon.com Kindle
http://www.amazon.com/Mother-Becomes-Stardust-ebook/dp/B00946Y1VA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347110200&sr=8-1&keywords=Mother+Becomes+Stardust

Amazon.co.uk paperback
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mother-Becomes-Stardust-Paul-Rance/dp/1479237930/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2

Amazon.co.uk Kindle
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mother-Becomes-Stardust-ebook/dp/B00946Y1VA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1347110039&sr=1-1

Introduction to 'Mother Becomes Stardust'

On Wednesday, January 18th, 2012 my beautiful Mother, Thelma Rance, was laid to rest in the Lincolnshire village of Whaplode Drove. She was buried next to my Father, Peter, who had died in September 2001. The last 18 months of my Mother's life had been traumatic, as first she suffered a stroke and then it was discovered that she had terminal breast cancer. This is a story about my Mother's brave fight and my fight against a system which made things as stressful as possible.

If you believe the scientists we are all made from stardust - literally. My Mother always loved looking at the stars, and as life is cyclical it's nice to think she is now among the objects she so admired - as eternal stardust.

- Paul Rance, August 30th, 2012.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the kindness of the following over the past two years: Colin, Myrie and Edie, Joyce and Susan, Norman, Wendy and Mick, Leila and Nicholas, Chris, Richard and family, Brian, Cynthia and Maurice, Iris, Andrew Bruce, Andrew Savage, Andy Xport, Francesca, Dorothy and family, Rosemary, Irene and Bill, Christine and Richard Bruness, Irini Kotroni, Danielle Olivia Tefft, Mary McGihon, Dave, Shaheen Darr, Larry Burke, Shelly Starkey, Joanne Lynch, Pat West, Tony and family, Rill and family, Valerie and Bertha, Joyce Wilson, Dot, Janet, Hilda, Belinda, Beryl, Ric Klass, Ingrid Riley, Gwynn Watt and Jane Foulger, Leilani Holmes, John Smither, Pat, Margaret, Wendy and family, Greg Brian, Julie Bodeeb, Denise Perrin, Cardinal Cox, Esther Newton, Steve Sneyd, Daisy Hickman, LuRain Penny, Jaipi Sixbear, Vaughan, Hugo, Malcolm, Ali E. McCartney, Lady Samantha, Dan Reveal, Cassie Antares, Bethany Marsh, Theresa Wiza, Susan Elliott, Kira Stann, Natasha Head, Langley Cornwell, Maria Roth, Mary Oberg, Bridgitte Williams, Parm Gill, Tina Twito, Donna Morreale, Diane Zoller-Ciatto, Shana Dines, Valerie-Ann Risely, Bridget Ilene Delaney, Kimberley Beckom, Han Van Meegerin, Loki Morgan and Patti Walden. The staff at Tanglewood Cedar Falls, the nurses at the various Peterborough hospitals, Leanne and staff at Debonair - and the kindness of strangers.