Terminally ill Swansea mum issues plea for Christmas cards

When Clare Jones published a Facebook post asking for extra Christmas cards to make her last Christmas “super special”, she never expected to receive thousands of responses.

The mother-of-three was diagnosed with bowel cancer in May 2022, but was recently told her chemotherapy was no longer responding and she had around 10 months to live.

“I’m a simple person who likes simple things,” Clare said in her post, adding: “I love Christmas cards. I’d love to have lots of them this year.”

“So I’m asking you nicely, while you’re making your cards, could you please drop an extra one in the mail for me?”

Clare, 47,’s hope of receiving 10 to 15 extra Christmas cards from friends has been shared by more than 10,000 people, with hundreds flocking to the comments with well-wishes from around the world.

Clare said she was “overwhelmed” with love and has received thousands of Christmas cards so far, as well as flowers, chocolates, personalized gifts, theater tickets and even caravan holidays.

“Someone even offered to spend a night with them,” Clare laughed.

“I said, ‘That’s very kind of you, but no thank you.'”

Clare, from Pontarddulais, Swansea, said the response had been “surprising” and that she had been considering making a post for a while but was worried it would be seen as “cheeky”.

He made the request online because he thinks Christmas is always special and “always makes a fuss”.

In 2022, a year after surgery to remove an 18-inch tumor, Clare was told her bowel cancer had spread to her lymph nodes and lungs. developed to stage four.

She has been undergoing chemotherapy since then, but said she was informed that the chemotherapy she received in November to help shrink the cancer was no longer responding and that the average prognosis for someone in her position was 10 months.

“But am I average? I’ve never been average,” Clare laughed.

While Clare is realistic about her diagnosis, she remains hopeful for a “Christmas miracle.”

Sitting in her kitchen surrounded by flowers and hand-written Christmas wishes, Clare said she and her family both laughed and cried at the messages left on some of the cards.

“A simple card with a simple message really made our Christmas, all of us,” he said.

From poems to letters to children’s handmade cards, Clare says the shared experience and messages of positivity touch them all.

“There’s so much to read,” Clare said, adding: “The love was amazing… true love.”

America, Greece, Netherlands, Spain, Germany, France and New Zealand are just a few of the countries Clare has received cards from.

She said the last few months have been extremely difficult because she has had to tell her three children, Summer, 16, Sami, 22, and Finley, 20, that this Christmas could be her last.

“How can you tell them that? My daughter doesn’t believe it.”

All three live in the same house with Clare, who has been raising them independently for the past 10 years, and one of Clare’s biggest worries is leaving them behind.

“Who are they? I’m trying to think positive, but it’s real.

“I remember my kids leaving primary school, I thought it was their last gig in primary school… you go through the stages of the last one.

“But when you talk about yourself, this is the last time you’ll see Christmas, you know, Halloween is gone and you didn’t realize it was your last Halloween, your last Christmas, your last birthday.

“When you’re told it’s ten months, you lose your mind.”

Just a few hours after posting on Facebook, Clare said she received three cards from people she had never met in the area before: “It’s so crazy how nice people can be.”

Clare said she loves getting cards and likes to keep them, but she “doesn’t get very many Christmas cards anymore”.

While older generations sent cards, people have now turned to sending messages, “which is great but not quite the same,” he said.

With deliveries from the postman now a daily occurrence, Clare avoided thinking about the postman but said he was wonderful and very patient.

Even though hundreds of cards go through her mailbox every day, Clare plans to thank each and every one of them.

“I want to respond to everyone, everyone was very kind,” he said.

While Clare sells the stamps and donates the proceeds to charity, she collects all the stamps to be sent to a bone cancer charity.

Clare said she berated herself for not going to the doctor sooner because she had had symptoms for a long time, but put it down to a “dodgy tummy”.

He added: “I don’t feel sick, I feel fine. But I won’t feel like this for much longer.”

“There are many people around me who care about me. If love could cure cancer, I would be cured too.”

Clare has several trips planned with her family over Christmas; These include a caravan holiday and a day at the theater at his favorite time of year.

“I didn’t want to ruin Christmas because it was my last Christmas, I didn’t want to spend that Christmas feeling sad, but it’s hard not to.

“As much as I love Christmas and as much as we are going to have a wonderful Christmas… it will still be in my mind and my family’s mind that it was the last Christmas we had.

“I want to spend the rest of my time with my family.”