A disabled mum battling cancer is fundraising so she can take her two daughters on the holiday of a lifetime.

Darcey, nine, and Xanthe, seven, have become registered carers for their mum, Toni-Marie Roper.

As well as suffering from a rare tissue disorder and fibromyalgia, Toni-Marie, 30, learnt in January that she has an aggressive tumour which has been found to be stage 4 melanoma.

Toni-Marie, of Lyme Regis, says the trip is about giving the family ‘something to look forward to’.

She said: “With cancer you realise it doesn’t just affect you but everyone around you, as well. Since January it has just been non-stop and I haven’t had a lot of time to sit back and really process everything. I think that’s what this trip is about: to give us some normality and show them that I’m still the same mum.”

The trip itself is intended to be a ‘figure of eight journey’ across the UK with the ‘North Coast 500’ sitting as the jewel in the crown. The three-week road trip is a perfect combination of Toni-Marie’s love for both driving and photography and, she says, will serve as the perfect escape.

She said: “It’s about giving the girls some time to get away, to escape, where it’s not all about the word ‘cancer’. We’ve never been abroad but I feel it’s more important to teach them that our own country is beautiful and why not explore that first?”

Owing to the nature of her cancer, Toni-Marie is treated in Poole Hospital which requires a 100-mile round trip every time. In addition to melanoma, she also has Ehlers Danlos syndrome and fibromyalgia meaning most mornings are a ‘write-off’ as a result of the chronic pain and fatigue. Whilst the fundraiser set up aims to fund the ‘holiday of a lifetime’, it’s also about raising awareness of a form of cancer often associated with later stages of life.

Toni-Marie said: “I am 30, I’ve got two young children, you just don’t consider skin cancer at that sort of age. I have had that (melanoma) for a long time: I had a superficial mark which had been growing for a number of years and it just never crossed my mind to get it checked. It’s all about awareness and making people think about checking their skin: I never did, to be honest.”

To follow Toni-Marie’s journey and support her fundraiser visit: https://bit.ly/3wnj28U