Mum, 29, dies after being told she was 'too young' to get breast cancer

A loving mum-of-four who was told she was “too young” to have breast cancer has sadly died aged just 29.

Brave Ashleigh Ellerton, 29, vowed to make her children’s dreams come true after being diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2022 and being told she would be lucky to live another three years. She was placed on end of life care last month after the cancer spread to her brain and spinal cord. Now husband Simon has revealed the tragic news she has lost her fight for life.

He said: “She said she didn’t want to die, loads of times, I didn’t know what to say, I tried to comfort her. In her last moments, I knew what was coming.

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“All we did was worthwhile. All the lovely memories we made with the children. It’s not sunk in, it’s been expected but it’s still unreal. When you marry you don’t plan on having babies and then have to plan because one of you is going away.”

Simon, 38, from Bridlington, East Yorks, said: “She loved thunderstorms and just before she died I said to her ‘when you get to where you’re going, and you are settled, send me a tropical Spanish thunderstorm so I know you’re there and I know you’re safe’.

“I said it yesterday to her, before she passed away. I told her I loved her, I said ‘farewell for now. When I’m 60 you’d better come and get me’. I feel like it’s the right age for me and the kids will all be grown up by then.

“I feel like all my guts have been ragged out of me. We have never really spent any time apart. I’m so glad we made all those memories.”

He told how Ashleigh spent Easter at home with him and their children Bella, 11, Rory, 10, Brody, nine and five-year-old Luca. But she wanted to pass away in Dove House Hospice.

He said:: “I’ve had lots of messages, I updated Ash’s for her. I put her phone down and left it. I will message her phone from me and say ‘night’.

“I saw her decline, I was with her every step of the way. Part of me was grieving then. It’s been six years of knowing she was going to die. I’ve been up and down, a month or two out of it, shattered, I kept going for Ash and the kids, I didn’t want to worry her.

“I said, ‘you need to go to our babies in Heaven’. Ash lost two babies prior to Bella being born. She was surrounded by family and friends at the end. I didn’t have the heart to tell them to leave.”

Speaking about her final moments he said :”She said she’d play tricks on me. When her breathing slowed down, she stopped breathing and we were all crying. Then she started breathing again, she was always a teaser.

“I said ‘night baby, farewell you go be happy now you’ve earned it, stop fighting now, you’re tired’. She stopped breathing, then started again. Her mum said she won’t let you have the last word.”

Simon has previously told how they had planned her funeral - and she will be wearing her black sparkly dress and slippers. He said: “I know she will be watching over us forever. We are planning on making the most of the limited time left to us including finalising plans for Ashleigh’s very untraditional funeral.

“We do have a dark sense of humour, and she wants two grim reapers at the side of her coffin and if it is a cold day, an outside BBQ as she loves them.”

Ashleigh was first diagnosed in March 2020. Her treatment included chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a mastectomy. In 2022 she received the heartbreaking news it was terminal.

In her final weeks Asheligh told how she was deteriorating. She wrote on social media: “I know I've been extremely quiet of late and it hasn't gone unnoticed. I've seen all the messages of support and love and I appreciate every single one.

“Unfortunately my silence has been because I've quite frankly been extremely ill with side effects of the leptomeningeal disease and have been bed ridden for around a month.”

Leptomeningeal disease is a rare and serious complication of cancer that occurs when cancer spreads to the membranes around the brain and spinal cord.

Ashleigh said: “Unfortunately I was rushed into hospital with concerning symptoms and scans have shown that the leptomeningeal disease is now wide spread into my spine and causing some horrific side effects.

“Taking that into consideration and my quality of life currently it has been decided by both myself and my entire medical team that I end all treatment for both the leptomeningeal disease and the liver disease and move to palliative pain relief until the time comes for hospice care.”

She wrote: “As you can imagine this is the hardest decision I've had to make but spending time with my children and family is my main priority and the state I was in that just wasn't happening.

“Hopefully I can make more memories with my babies in the time I have left.”

She made memory boxes for each child, writing birthday cards for their 18th and 21st birthdays. She is having engraved cufflinks made for the boys with “love mum” on them for their prom nights. And she is giving each a “build a bear” with a recording of her voice instead of heartbeat.