“We see it happening to other people all the time, but we never think it’s going to happen to us.

“But when you hear the words , ‘You’ve got Stage 4 bowel cancer’, you know that the only thing you can do is fight.”

Since Donna Davies was dealt that horrific blow in March 2022 -when she was told she had only five months to live - the way in which she has confronted her illness continues to be an inspiration to so many people.

Eighteen months on, she has just returned from a family holiday in Tunisia and last weekend she raised a staggering £3,000 for three cancer-related charities in a coffee morning in her village of Beulah, near Cardigan.  The afternoon the Western Telegraph caught up with Donna, she was doing the weekend shop in Tesco.

“It’s easy to just give up when you know you’ve got an illness like this.  And if I had, I know for a fact that I wouldn’t be here today,” continues Donna, who is 46.

She began suspecting that things weren’t right just prior to the Covid pandemic,  however the lockdown restrictions prevented her from having a diagnosis until later in 2021. Medics initially believed she was suffering from piles, and arrangements were put in place for her to be operated on.

“I was called into Glangwili for some checks to be carried out before the operation, but when they examined me, they knew there was something else going on," she said.

"They sent me straight to Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli and that’s when I was told that I had Stage 4 bowel cancer.  The tumour was over 8.5 cm, and I had five months to live.”

The cancer she has is a particularly rare strain as it is imbedded in the colon, directly behind the anus.

Donna then began an intense course of treatment which comprised five weeks of radiotherapy followed by six months of chemotherapy. Throughout the treatment, she was desperately trying to maintain both her physical and her emotional strength.

“I don’t know how I would have got through this without my family,” she continues.

“My husband, Greg, gave his job up to care for me, and both my daughters, Courtney and Libby, moved back to support me every step of the way. There’s no doubt that without everything they’ve give me, I’d have given up.

“But the illness has also taught me how important it is to do all those things you’ve always wanted to do.

"So we’ve had the most wonderful holidays, we renewed our marriage vows earlier this year and I‘m still doing as much as I can to raise funds for all these incredible charities that are helping us.”

These include Cardigan Cancer Care, Bowel Cancer UK and Macmillan.

The recent coffee morning at Beulah Village Hall raised a total of £3,000 which is being shared equally between the three charities, and her fund raising will continue in her GoFundMe page.

Despite last year's diagnosis, Donna also decided to carry on fostering children, which she has been doing for the past eight years.  She is currently looking after three teenagers.

“I’m determined not to give in to the cancer and I’m doing everything I can to fight it," she said.

" And this is the message that I want to get out to everyone else who’s having to deal with an illness like mine. I know it’s terminal, but that doesn’t mean that things have got to come to a stop. Life is still there to be lived and enjoyed.”