Isobel's Story
On the 2nd of April 2025, Isobel closed her eyes for the last time. Our lives changed forever and will never be the same, heartbroken doesn’t even come close to how we feel.
Isobel was diagnosed with Sarcoma on the 12th of May 2023. Isobel was totally let down by the NHS, 5 months of being told she had a fibroid and continuously being turned away from hospitals and A&E, when she was clearly very unwell as she couldn’t even walk. It wasn’t until we paid for private appointments that Isobel got diagnosed. Back then we thought that was the worst day of our lives, but little did we know it would get so much worse. That same day, Isobel was finally admitted to University College London Hospital and a week later after further tests and scans, at aged 19, she was told the cancer had unfortunately spread and was incurable. When we heard this news, Isobel sobbed saying “why me” and we all thought the same “why our Iz”.
The specialist team that was assigned to Isobel at UCLH said they would do all they could to prolong Isobel’s life. We never knew how long this timeframe was so from that day onwards we all followed Isobel’s lead. Isobel told her doctors, nurses and consultants that she didn’t want to know the extent of her scan results or any sort of time frames, she told them you do what you have got to do and tell me what I have got to do. It was then she decided that she only wanted family to know her cancer was incurable, she always said she didn’t want pity, she wanted to try and lead as much of a normal life as she could, and she wanted people to be there for her because they wanted to, not because they felt sorry for her.
The next day, Isobel started chemotherapy. The chemotherapy that Isobel and other patients fighting aggressive cancers endure is brutal. Watching your child go through that is something no parent should ever have to do. After chemotherapy round 1, Isobel started to lose her hair, which was another tough day, to see the tears streaming down her face broke our hearts. Isobel was discharged from UCLH 4 weeks later and as soon as we got through the front door, Isobel decided to ‘Brave the Shave’ – her Auntie Sammy did it for her, with all of us around her, she said “no one cry” but one by one we all cried however she looked stunning. Isobel went on to complete 6 rounds of intense chemotherapy and radiotherapy. There was good days and bad days, many hospital admissions, one admission being on her 20th birthday, she was so sad but her brother, Josh, arranged for Declan Rice to send her a video message, which made her day and cheered her up.
Isobel was always so positive, brave and cheerful, we honestly don’t know where she got her strength from. We were told in September 2023, that her treatment had been successful however the cancer was still present, and it would just be a matter of hoping for no further growth. Isobel had some time off treatment however during this time, Isobel still had regular hospital visits, scans, blood tests and nervous days waiting for results and updates from her consultants.
Unfortunately, in February 2024, more bad news arrived and from that day until March 2025, Isobel went through rounds and rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. She never moaned or complained, she just got on with it. She was always so thankful and polite to all the doctors and nurses that cared for her. She was always turning up to chemotherapy in a new outfit and wig, with a face full of make-up, but more than anything, a big smile on her face. To people on the outside, they would never have known what she was going through but for family and close friends this was a totally different story.
After Christmas 2024, Isobel’s health deteriorated but she still chose to fight on. Hard conversations with her team of consultants were had and we knew things wasn’t looking good, but we continued to follow Isobel’s lead by doing our best to just be there and try to keep things as normal as possible for her.
Isobel continued to be her beautiful, brave self and get herself ready and go out to spend time with friends, even up to 10 days before she said goodnight for the last time. We have 21 years of wonderful memories, but we feel so cheated that we won’t get more time with our gorgeous girl.
More than anything, we feel so sad that she never got to live her life more. Isobel protected her family and friends right up until the end because that was the type of person she was – selfless! We miss Isobel every minute of every day and will do so for the rest of our lives, but she will forever be in our broken hearts.
"Go Live Life"
- Isobel Allen