THREE children are coming to terms with their mum dying of cancer and are leading a “settled” life thanks to a local lifeline.

Kelma Yates, 37, is battling a rare cancer, but when she was diagnosed four years ago — for the second time in her life — her family struggled to face up to the fact that she could not be cured.

But Ms Yates, of Kendal, said the lifeline thrown to the family by CancerCare had been invaluable.

Ms Yates found out she had a heaemangiopericytoma, a cancerous tumour, in her arm in 2007 — which has now spread to her left leg, pubic bone and shoulder.

“When the consultant walked into the room I knew the news was bad. The feeling of dread was overwhelming,” she said.

She endured a six-week “whirlwind” of doctors’ appointments and biopsies to try to treat her rare cancer and said: “I begged each doctor I saw: ‘Give me all the chemo and radiation you like but please don’t take my arm’.”

In January last year, she had an appointment with her consultant and said: “I instantly knew I wasn’t going to lose my left arm, I was going to lose my life. He told me that I had tumours in my left leg, pubic bone and my right shoulder. Surgery was not an option.

“I laughed and everyone looked at me as if I had lost the plot.

“I saw a tear roll down the nurse’s face. I then looked at my doctor and begged him to take my arm and cure me.”

Ms Yates, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2001 and underwent a rigorous course of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, said: “When I told my family, we all just dealt with it because I had beaten it before.

“But it was not until I was told it was terminal that they were in disbelief. My youngest son was really struggling coming to terms with the fact his mummy was going to die so I got in touch with CancerCare.”

Her 12-year-old son has been seeing a counsellor within the Children & Young Persons Unit at CancerCare’s Kendal Centre in Blackhall Road — which offers support to all young people from three years of age throughout the cancer journey.

Ms Yates said: “He finds it very difficult talking to me about cancer and does not want to hurt my feelings.

“I am very proud of how the children have dealt with it and I can’t imagine how they feel. They will be left behind having to deal with it,” she said.

She said that CancerCare had provided much more than she had ever hoped for.

“I don’t want pity, but I want people to realise how important CancerCare really is. I look forward to going each week and don’t know how I would cope without it.”

Giving something back to CancerCare is always a top priority for Ms Yates and she is urging people to sign up for CancerCare’s Starwalk, which is in its fifth year, when registration opens on February 21 at Kendal’s Westmorland Shopping Centre, from 12pm to 2pm.

Ms Yates, who completed the walk two years ago but was too ill to take part last year, said: “I felt proud to be walking round our lovely town with 1,000 other ladies raising funds to help other local people going through a hard time like me.

“CancerCare is an invaluable resource that is needed locally, but like everything else, it costs a lot of money to run.”

Starwalk takes place on May 7. For information, call 01539 735 800.