Irish couple, both with terminal cancer, urge others to get checked

Parents Karen and Ed Stewart, mum and dad to Keeva, Finn and Erin, have both been diagnosed with terminal cancer and are urging others to go to their doctor if they feel something is wrong.

In a heartbreaking scenario, parents-of-three Karen (36) and Ed (42) Stewart have both been diagnosed with incurable cancer. Speaking to RSVP magazine, Karen has warned others not to put off seeing a doctor if they discover a lump or are experiencing pain:

"If you have a pain - especially if you have it weeks - you should seek medical advice. And if you don’t get relief straight away just go private, it costs around €250, and you get the results faxed to your doctor that day. That is how my husband found out, we had been putting it down to a suspected heart attack he had in February of this year. If you have pain, go get it checked, if you have a lump get it checked. It might be nothing but could be something. Don’t leave it until it’s too late."

Karen was first diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a type of cancer that forms in certain types of nerve tissue, when she was just 20 years of age. Neuroblastoma commonly starts from the adrenal glands, but it can also develop in the neck, chest, abdomen, or spine. Successful chemotherapy treatment meant that Karen was cancer-free, until the mum received the heartbreaking news in January of this year that the disease had come back and is now sadly incurable. In May of this year, dad Ed was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, after initially putting his chest pains and nausea down to stress and heart problems. Ed decided to pay for a private scan and the results revealed the tragic news on the day of the test. The dad-of-three is now being cared for in Blanchardstown's St Francis Hospice, and has been told he has just months left to live. Friends of the family have set up a Gofundme page to support the couple and their three young children, Keeva (10), Finn (8) and Erin (4). Stacey Hogg, who set up the fundraising page, says:

"The aim of the fund is to help raise some money so that Karen and Ed can make as many memories as possible with their three gorgeous babies."