A MOTHER who died just three days after being diagnosed with cancer will be remembered during a fundraiser this week.

Muriel Invine, from Chipping Norton, was told she had leukaemia and then suffered a severe stroke in August at the age of 78.

Her younger brother Terry Dale will shave his treasured locks off to raise money in her memory tomorrow.

The 62-year-old from Kidlington said: “She looked after me more as a baby than my mother and father.

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“She was a very special lady, everyone in the family adored her. She was the archetypal big sister.”

Father-of-four and grandfather-of-two Mr Dale said Mrs Invine had been feeling unwell in the weeks before she was diagnosed with cancer.

After visiting her GP she had blood tests at the Chipping Norton War Memorial Hospital in London Road on Wednesday, August 13.

By midday the next day the former nurse at The Horton Hospital in Banbury was a patient at the Churchill Hospital’s oncology department after being told to make her way immediately into the ward.

Witney Gazette:

  •  Muriel Invine, who died at 78, three days after being diagnosed with leukaemia

Mrs Invine, known as Mo, began treatment on the Friday and Mr Dale said he recalled his sister saying on the Sunday morning she was determined to beat the cancer.

He said: “The hospital staff said it was the worst type of leukaemia and they assumed that she may well last six to nine months. She seemed to be very positive on the Sunday morning but that was Mo.”

But on Monday, August 18, Mrs Invine suffered a stroke and never regained consciousness.

Mr Dale, a retired industrial cleaner, said medics were unsure what caused Mrs Invine’s stroke but it could have been down to the “sudden treatment”.

His daughter Heidi Smith, 29, said: “The shock of my aunt dying – I have never seen my dad react like that because he was always close to her.”

Mrs Invine, who was the eldest of seven children, passed away just a month before her 55th wedding anniversary to husband Jim, 88. She is also survived by her three children, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Mr Dale said: “She was a lovely person, a very lovely lady. She loved and adored her children and grandchildren, she absolutely worshipped them.”

Residents are invited to join Mr Dale at the fundraiser as he shaves his head at Kidlington’s Foresters Hall, in High Street, from 9pm.

He has already raised more than £300 for Cancer Research UK but is hoping to reach his target of £500 on Friday evening.

Ms Smith, from Kidlington, said: “I want dad to realise how incredibly proud the whole family are of him.”

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