Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Dufftown cancer patient’s race to get married before major surgery

Sarah Ambler and Ian Pegg when they became engaged in November.
Sarah Ambler and Ian Pegg when they became engaged in November.

A former ambulance technician battling a rare cancer is trying to move her wedding forward before she undergoes major surgery.

Sarah Ambler, from Dufftown, was told she had small bowel neuroendocrine cancer in May 2018, just months before she was told she had breast cancer.

After months of gruelling treatment, the 55-year-old’s breast cancer is no longer an imminent threat – but last January, tumours were spotted on her liver.

Miss Ambler first started receiving injections for the tumours last October, but was forced to leave the ambulance service in January due to her worsening condition, and is now desperately awaiting surgery.

It is unavailable through NHS Grampian but staff are doing all it can to arrange her treatment with another Scottish health board.

Now she and partner Ian Pegg, who popped the question in November, are seeking to move their wedding forward from July to next month instead.

Miss Ambler said with the worldwide impact of lockdown due to coronavirus, life for cancer patients has become even more difficult, but she is trying her best to persevere.

Sarah was previously stationed as an ambulance technician in Dufftown

She said: “The injections seemed to be working initially and helped an awful lot with my symptoms, but the last two CT scans have shown an abnormally rapid growth of one of the tumours.

“At this time I am almost certain to die if I catch Covid-19, with my worsening prognosis and condition.

“It’s usually a slow-growing cancer, but I’ve got to the stage now that the tumour is so big that it keeps getting caught and bumping on my ribs, and my liver is now starting to function at less than 100%, so the beginnings of liver failure.”

She added that she wanted to share her story to highlight the additional difficulties faced by those with severe illnesses during the lockdown.

“They are pulling out all the stops and doing everything they can to find another hospital in Scotland where surgeons will be available to do this operation for me,” Miss Ambler said.

“We’re now aiming to try and get married in Dundee on June 16, and my oncologist has supported that so we can hopefully be married before the operation.

“We were so looking forward to this year after all of my troubles.

“Me and my husband-to-be were actually meant to be in the Seychelles right now for our honeymoon before the wedding, it was going to be a chance-of-a-lifetime thing.

“But the main thing is, we just want to get married.”