52 Lives

#83 Steffi

Request: Grocery vouchers / a holiday / donations / treats!

This week, 52 Lives would like to help Steffi, a 38 year old woman from Hartlepool in the UK.

Originally from Germany, Steffi is married to Steve, a former soldier. They have two teenage daughters and Steffi has been a full time carer for one of their daughter's who has additional needs.

Two years ago Steffi was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Soon after, they also discovered she had bowel cancer. She had intensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and was relieved to be given the all clear. After everything that had happened, they decided to move to Germany last April to be closer to Steffi’s family. But Steve found it hard to find work there, and their girls were struggling to settle in, and so they decided to return to England in December with the little bit of money they had left.

Just a few weeks ago, on 2nd January, Steffi began to have bowel pains. Steve took her to A & E, and she was admitted for further investigations. Scans showed Steffi had cancer in her bowels and pelvis. Surgery isn’t possible, so Steffi’s only available option is chemotherapy every 3 weeks to slow the cancer’s process. The prognosis is 3-4 months without chemotherapy or possibly up to a year if she undergoes the treatment. The family is in complete turmoil. Steffi's family are still in Germany and Steve doesn’t have a close family network, so their friends are doing all they can to support them.

Their bills are on top of them, and Steffi can’t even afford to buy clothes – she has lost a lot of weight and is having to wear her daughter’s clothes.

With everything they are dealing with at the moment, we want to help reduce their financial worries, even if for just a short period of time. We would also like to help the family have a holiday together, and spend some quality, fun time together - something they can't afford to do without help.

What We Need

  1. Gift vouchers for groceries – to help reduce their day to day living costs. To buy a gift card, please see the details below.
  2. A holiday – we would love to give the family some time away together to Centreparcs, or somewhere similar where they can have some fun and relax. If you would like to make a donation towards a holidays, please click the link below, or if you can offer help with this in another way, please complete the form below.
  3. Treats – cinema vouchers, restaurant vouchers ..or anything else you would like to donate would make a big difference to Steffi. Please complete the form below to let us know if you can help with this.
  4. Donations - donations will go directly to the family, and be put towards a holiday and to help them get on top of their bills. Click below to make a donation.

Make a Donation

Buy a Tesco Gift Card

Gift cards can be posted to:
52 Lives (Life # 83)
PO Box 329
Hampton, TW12 9DF

E-Gift Cards can be emailed to jaime@52-lives.org



What We Did

We received almost £200 in gift cards for Next, Boots, Tesco, Odeon Cinemas and Pizza Hut, thanks to the generosity of Lisa & her lovely family, Lauren Smith, Dave, Barbara, Nicky Slater, Dismal Dave and Shelly Hallam.

Steffi's donation page has reached over £3000! Which means the family is fullfilling their dream to visit Disneyland. Thank you to every single one of you who made a donation on the family's fundraising page.

A lovely weekend away - thanks to Barbara and Michael from Beach-View Bed & Breakfast

New clothes - thanks to Allana Biggs.

A big thankyou also to Alison Maitland for her invaluable advice, to Helen from Maluth Lodge for her generous offers.

We also received this lovely message from Lisa and her family, who are going through a tough time themselves and wanted to do something kind for Steffi.

Dear Steffi

Your story touched me greatly as unfortunately, my husband too has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and is fighting really hard to stay with us for as long as possible.

My hubby’s motto is “I’m like weed and you can’t get rid of weed” and together with a tremendously positive attitude, he’s now 10 months into a 3-6 month life expectancy and touching every piece of wood, he’s doing really well. I am in total awe of him!

As hard as I’m sure it must be, I sincerely hope that you too can remain positive because trust me, it really does help and you have to fight this evil disease!

I have arranged for some cinema and restaurant vouchers to be sent to you via Jaime, it would give us great pleasure for you and your family to have a day out on us. I hope you enjoy and have a fabulous time!

My hubby and I wish you all the strength in the world. Sending lots of love and best wishes to you and your family. Take care all of you.....because we care.

Lots of love

Lisa & family xxxxxx