A woman battling terminal cancer is not only gradually ticking off her bucketlist, but making a documentary about it, which is touching hearts all over the globe.
In June 2009 at the age of 33, Rowena Kincaid was diagnosed with triple negative cancer which affects about one in five breast cancer sufferers, and began treatment immediately, having a lumpectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
She finished treatment in 2009 and began to feel like she could resume a normal life after 11 months, returning to work as a picture editor at the BBC.
Soon after having a breast reconstruction in 2012 Kincaid felt lumps again, which she was relieved to hear were only cysts when returning to the doctor.
However, as she stood as a bridesmaid in a friend’s wedding in September 2013, Kincaid knew there was something was wrong as she felt lumps in her armpit and neck.
Tests soon showed she had fatal secondary stage four cancer.
It had spread to Kincaid’s nodes and she was told she was likely to only live for three to six months with treatment.
While it was unlikely, she could possibly live for one year but not two.
Now 39-years-old, Kincaid’s goal is the reach her 40th birthday, and if she survives until October, she will prove the doctors wrong.
But her greatest achievement may be the documentary she has filmed, which the BBC will air on Tuesday called Before I Kick the Bucket.
“After I had my terminal diagnosis, my friend asked if I had a bucket list and that got me thinking,” she told Wales Online.
“I did feel that if I didn’t have one, I’d miss out on something.
“I was like a rabbit in the headlights. I felt like my life was in fast forward and there was more pressure to do spectacular things, but I couldn’t think of what I wanted to do.”
The 39-year-old from Cardiff’s first thought was to run down Queen Street naked and get arrested. She has since planned her funeral, stood in her coffin in a wonder woman costume and bought a sports car.
She’s filming fellow cancer suffers battling a terminal disease, documenting their bucket list achievements. And she’s taking hers less seriously.
“For now I’m throwing my energy into this film,” she said.
“Unfortunately, the cancer’s spreading and I know I’m now living on borrowed time.
“I want to raise awareness about the diversity of terminal diseases and about how people live with them day-to-day.
“You pass people in the street and would never know anything was wrong. But behind the surface, there’s hardship and heartache and laughter and life. That is what I want to show the world.”
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