By Judy Broadbent
A young Bridlington mum was granted a last wish on Friday 23 May with the very untraditional funeral she herself had planned.
Brave Ashleigh Ellerton was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2022 and was placed on end of life care after the cancer spread to her brain and spinal cord.
Tragically, she passed away last month leaving behind husband Simon and their four young children aged 12, 10, nine and five.
Ashleigh 29, fought hard and made many lasting memories with her family and in her final months planned a very untraditional funeral.
Husband Simon, 38, says: ‘Ash and me, we have a dark sense of humour and she wanted two grim reapers at the side of her coffin. Two of our friends were brilliant and stepped up to give Ash her final wish.
“We are finding it very hard without Ash but I feel she won’t ever leave us. I’m numb and it’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before. Sometimes I’m up, often I’m down, but you just keep on going, one day at a time. Even though we knew this would happen, it’s still a big shock.”
Ashleigh was first diagnosed in 2020 having initially been told she was ‘too young’ to have breast cancer.
Her treatment included chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a mastectomy then came the heartbreaking news in 2022 that she was terminally ill.
She then developed a rare side effect, a complication of cancer that occurs when cancer spreads to the membranes around the brain and spinal cord – Leptomeningeal disease.
Ashleigh passed away in Dove House Hospice, Hull, surrounded by her family and friends.
Ashleigh’s mum Steph Allsop has set up an Gofundme page to help her four children in the coming months and years.
To donate: https://gofund.me/29e9bf13
