Tribute has been paid to a bubbly, young Fife woman who lost her fight with cancer just as she was starting her career as a nurse.
Lauren Napier (21) died last Monday, two years after being diagnosed with bowel cancer.
The former student at Bell Baxter High School and Elmwood College, Cupar, had only just begun training as a nurse at Stratheden Hospital with Dundee University when she fell ill again and was admitted to hospital.
She had also just moved out of the family home in Cupar and into a cottage near Anstruther with her long-term boyfriend, Allan Marshall (22).
Her mum Pamela (43) and elder sister Hollie (25) have told how Lauren’s fighting spirit had helped to buoy the rest of the family, including younger sister Jenna (19).
Pamela, who stayed with Lauren during her final weeks in Roxburghe House, Dundee, said, “Lauren was a fighter.
“I’m not a strong person but Lauren made me strong.
“It was how she was she was making sure that I would cope.”
Hollie added, “She lived life to the full. No one else would have been able to cope with what she went through but she made us all strong.”
Lauren, who met Allan when she competed in curling tournaments, had part of her bowel removed and underwent chemotherapy after her initial diagnosis.
She recovered and returned to work at Stratheden as a nursing assistant alongside Pamela who is also a nursing assistant and phlebotomist.
A scan in September last year revealed the cancer had spread and she underwent major surgery to remove her womb, ovaries, part of her stomach and the rest of her bowel.
She was also given more chemotherapy, then spent several months in hospital.
When she was discharged in February, Lauren appeared again to be recovering.
Hollie said, “We thought she was getting better, then she started losing lots of weight. She couldn’t eat much and when she did she was sick.”
Lauren celebrated her 21st birthday with a party on July 17 and Hollie said, “She was the last person standing at her party.”
But the next day she was readmitted to hospital.
A scan revealed the cancer was in her abdominal area and Lauren was too weak for chemotherapy.
Pamela said, “We were told that she had weeks left but we told her she had months.
“She was a fighter and we couldn’t take that hope away from her.”
Lauren had loved her work. Pamela said, “Before we knew her cancer had come back she had been accepted to do her nursing training but she only managed to do two weeks of it.”
The highlight of her year, they said, was moving in with Allan but Pamela added, “They really only had one good week in their house.”
As Lauren was laid to rest on Friday at Kingskettle Cemetery, a collection was taken for Marie Curie Cancer Care.