Ulverston mayor given cancer all--clear after surgery (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Ulverston mayor given cancer all--clear after surgery

3:36pm Wednesday 21st September 2011 in Health By Daniel Orr, Reporter

A TOWN mayor who soldiered on with her duties despite under-going surgery for bowel cancer has been given the all-clear.

Pat Jones, mayor of Ulverston, attended the opening of the town’s Charter Festival only a day after being dis-charged from Furness General Hospital.

And she has urged people not to worry about the stigma she feels is attached to bowel problems, and to go to their GPs if they are concerned about their health in any way.

“I was very fortunate. God’s been very good to me,” said the mother-of-four.

“It was a total shock. The only symptom I had was just tiredness, so it is something to look out for.

"I can’t emphasise enough, that with the tiniest little thing, go and get it checked.

“The thing about bowel cancer is that people find it embar-rassing.

"There is a stigma and the attitude that we shouldn’t talk about it but there really is nothing to worry about.

“People worry about the thought of a colostomy bag, but I said to the doctors I would wear it in a backpack if necessary. I didn’t care.”

As mayor, Mrs Jones, 75, was desperate not to miss any of her appointments.

“I am so proud to be Ulverston’s mayor, and I am bloody minded.

"For my own sense of worth, to sit here and feel sorry for myself would have driven me mad, so I put lipstick on and got out there”.

Mrs Jones praised staff at FGH: “If I had been The Queen I could not have had better treatment.

"They did not know I was the mayor, and you couldn’t pay for what I had.”

She also wanted to thank people who had wished her well and prayed for her.

She added: “It is the kindness of people that gets to you. People really do care.”