I know they’re not going to have their mam but they are going to have lovely memories
Thousands of pounds has been raised for a South Shields mam-of-two with incurable cancer.
Lisa Anderson, from South Shields, was diagnosed with stage 4 triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) in August 2022, leaving the mam-of-two and those closest to her devastated.
The 43-year-old first noticed a lump in February 2022 and due to the illness was missed by doctors, by the time she was diagnosed, it had already spread to her liver.
Since then, Lisa has been undergoing treatment; however, in October 2025, she was given that news that her liver is too damaged to continue fighting the cancer.
Lisa, who is mam to Evan, 12, and Noah, nine, has told the Shields Gazette how she felt when she received the news that she may only have weeks/months left to live.
She said: “I was devastated because I’m young and I didn’t think that it would happen to me, you always think that it will happen to someone else.
“I’ve got two boys who are just amazing and it is more them that I’m worried about than myself.
“I am obviously scared of dying - the thought of leaving everyone is horrible but especially leaving the boys without a mam, that’s heart-breaking.
“But I’ve got loads of support and people around me at the moment so it has been really lovely.”
In order to allow Lisa make as many memories as possible with Evan and Noah in the time that she has left, her best friend, Emma Scullion, launched a Go Fund Me page to help her do so without any financial burden.
More than £7,100 has been raised at the time of writing, something that Lisa says will show Evan and Noah how much they are all loved once she is no longer with them.
She commented: “I’m really stubborn and I don’t like taking things off people, I wouldn’t even claim PIP (Personal Independence Payment) when I was supposed to be claiming it.
“I’m quite a private person but my best friend, Emma, told me that she was doing it and she has been amazing - you don’t realise how much people actually love you until you read all the comments.
“It has kept me busy and people who I haven’t seen for 20 or 30 years have been donating, I can’t get my head around how people can be so nice.
“I’m just overwhelmed by all of it and the boys are as well.
“It is nice for them to see how many caring people there are and when I’m gone, they’ll know that their mam was loved and that people helped at our time of need.”
Lisa has also revealed she is planning to use the money raised to take her sons to Scotland, with the aim of getting to the most northern point of the UK.
She added: “Hopefully we’re going to get a lodge or a caravan as far north as we can in Scotland because we love the country, the mountains and the highland cows.
“So we want to go to John o' Groats just to say that we’ve been there and get a picture at the sign.
“I know it is just a little thing but it is a bucket list item for us to tick off so I really want this for my boys because I want them to be happy.
“I know they’re not going to have their mam but they are going to have lovely memories, that’s all I want.”
You can follow Lisa’s journey on TikTok by visiting: https://www.tiktok.com/@lisaanderson433.
If you wish to view and donate to her fundraiser, then you can do so at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/make-every-moment-count-for-lisa-and-her-boys.