A WOMAN given just months to live after a terminal cancer diagnosis has thanked a charity volunteer for keeping her 'spirits high'.

Shirley Lawrence, 75, from East Hendred near Wantage, was told by doctors she was unlikely to see the new year, though said so far she was still doing well.

The retired secretary said: "My oncologist told me I’d be lucky to be here at Christmas."

She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a strain of the disease with poor survival rates, in 2018.

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Mrs Lawrence said: “It was a bit of a shock because I thought I might have a hernia or something like that because I’d lost my appetite."

Despite a major operation last year, doctors could not cure Mrs Lawrence.

But after being referred by her GP to the Oxfordshire Buddy Scheme – a befriending service run by cancer charity Macmillan – Mrs Lawrence said she has benefited 'hugely' from the extra support.

Julie Timms, from Witney, signed up to volunteer and was buddied with Mrs Lawrence earlier this year.

She said: “Seeing close friends experience cancer prompted me to do something, so I signed up to be a Macmillan buddy.

“We try to have a joke, a laugh, even if it’s just for an hour – to get the people we’re helping to think of something other than what they’re going through."

The 49-year-old added: "When you leave, they’re on a bit of a high. They’re chirpier and ever so grateful.

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"One person we went to see couldn’t believe that she didn’t have to pay us."

Mrs Lawrence, who used to sing with the Wantage Choral Society, said she and Mrs Timms talk about gardening, their families and even go to classical music concerts together.

She added: “I honestly think it does help to talk about things rather than keep them inside you and Julie and I get on like a house on fire.

"She cheers me up and keeps my spirits high.”

Although Mrs Lawrence says she mainly benefits from her buddy’s emotional support at the moment, she expects there will be a time when it becomes practical support.

She added: “I think positivity has a huge role to play and makes a terrific difference.

"Obviously in time I’ll start to feel poorly but I’m trying not to think about it.

"I’m taking each day as it comes."

To see volunteering opportunities at Macmillan, go to macmillan.org.uk/volunteer.