At the first meeting with her oncologist, north Londoner Caroline Bercott was told that, best-case scenario, she could live for 10 more years, having been diagnosed with a rare type of lymphoma. At worst, the prognosis was two years.
“At the time, my boys were six and eight and in my head all I could think was: ‘Am I going to be there for their barmitzvahs?’”
Terrified about the future, she turned to Chai Cancer Care for support. Two years on, Mrs Bercott, 45, is in remission and her story was the focus of the appeal video at Chai’s dinner at the Roundhouse in Camden on Monday, which raised £1.1 million from the 750 guests.
“All I could do was think about the impact it was going to have on my boys, on Martin my husband, on my parents, on my family,” she recalled.
“We decided to be honest with the children about what was happening. I’ll never forget the day we told them ‘mummy is not very well’ and we used the word ‘cancer’.”
She still gets choked up as she recounts the response of eldest son Noah. “He buried himself in Martin’s chest and he said: ‘Are you going to die?’”
At first, the New North London Synagogue member was reluctant to reach out to the charity. “So many people mentioned Chai but I thought it wasn’t for me. I’ve always been fiercely independent.
“But then I realised it wasn’t support just for me. It was for the whole family.
“I had counselling. The kids got music therapy and Chai worked closely with their school so they were really supported.
“There were times I was so worried about the children and felt such guilt that I wasn’t able to be the mum I wanted to be. The counselling helped me with that.”
A second biopsy cast doubt over her first diagnosis and the Bercotts were given new hope when doctors told her about a strain of chemotherapy that could help.
“Cancer is far from just a medical term. It is a lifestyle and unfortunately it affects everything,” Mrs Bercott reflected. “I’m in remission now and people ask: ‘Is life back to normal?’ I don’t even know what normal is any more.
Chai’s support had been “invaluable”.
