Stacey Gallagher

Stacey was an awesome big sister. She was an amazing mum to my nephew Brandon as well as a great daughter, partner and the funniest best friend to many who were lucky enough to have known her. She was also a psychiatric nurse and was loved by all her patients and their relatives as she often went beyond the call off duty to help them in whatever way she could, a lot of the time sharing her funny witty sense of humour with them which everyone appreciates and loved. She was a simple person in life and did not want for materialistic things. She adored the outdoors and spent lots of time going on adventures with buster, her second favourite child (her dog). She would stop to admire trees and often wonder about the story’s they could tell of who’s walked past them over the years, and loved to explore her favourite place in the world, scotland! Stacey was a very strong person in life, she dealt with life as it came to her without drama or hassle, and no matter what seemed to be a problem, she could always talk folk through solutions in order to help them cope with whatever they were dealing with at that time. One of her biggest of many qualities was her sense of humour, she was the queen of one liners and although a lot of her humour was sarcasm, no one done it as good or as clever as she did and often had folk in stitches at her story’s, this is one of the things I miss most about her. Stacey was not only intelligent, kind, funny and compassionate but she was also blessed with good looks, beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes however she did not see these things as important in a person as she was a big believer in inner beauty and being kind to folk, particularly folk less fortunate than ourselves. As no one is perfect, she did have her moments, she was a stubborn mere sometimes and you would not want to get on the wrong side of her as she had a sharp tongue and wouldn’t mince her words if you done her wrong or done someone she cared about wrong, this I also loved about her :). She was also someone who was not scared to stand up for what she believed and towards the later stage of her life took part in demonstrations to stand up nurses rights and also independence for Scotland, she showed great passion in these things. At 34, when she was feeling her healthiest, attending the gym regularly and looking after herself, she found a small lump in her breast which we believed was a cyst. After further investigation she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had to have a mastectomy and her lymph nodes removed before starting aggressive chemotherapy and radiation. Like the trooper she was, she fought her way through all of this and after a couple of years she got the all clear. She opted for breast reconstruction as she was still young and wanted to feel ‘normal’ in whatever way she could. Life was good again, my sister had fought the battle of her life and although it was devastating watching her go through this, i had never been more proud of her. Fast forward a couple of years and she began getting headaches, sore back and feeling pretty unwell again. After numerous visits to the doctor and sent home with pain killer, we decided to take her to the hospital to investigate the headaches. This is when we were informed of the devastating news that her cancer had returned and spread to her bones, liver, lungs etc. Myself and Stacey both being nurses new immediately that this was not good news. Even as I tried to comfort and support her, she was the one having to console me as I knew I was going to loose my best friend, my big sister, my work colleague, the person I had spent my entire life with as there was 13 months between us. She was admitted to hospital straight away and her consultant came to deliver the news which we were expecting. Her cancer was terminal and although they could offer her chemotherapy, it wasn’t a cure and would only work for a few months before staceys body would reject it. Stacey decided she did not want to go through chemotherapy again as it was very aggressive last time and did not want to spend the time she had left fighting the effects of chemo so we decided to try THC which unfortunately did not work. 7 months later she died leaving an 11 years son and a devastated family. Her strength was amazing and I often feel her with me helping me cope with the huge hole she’s left in our lives. She truly was one in a million and her passing has effected a number of folk who still struggle to this day with her not being present. We’re now 3.5 years without her and I can honestly say it gets harder as time goes on. I know if she was here she would be kicking my ass to not grieve for her and instead go out and make the most of life as we are never promised tomorrow. Shine bright Stacey you crazy diamond! Love you forever and a day ❤️