A BRAVE woman who has been given just weeks to live has decided to focus her energy into raising cash for research into her fatal condition.

Catherine Watkins, 55, of Rutland Avenue, Southend, was given the devastating news she had pancreatic cancer two weeks ago.

Despite being told she has little hope of living more than a few months, the foster carer is determined not to let self-pity get the better of her.

Instead, she has decided to do a charity sky dive to raise money for Pancreatic Cancer UK.

Catherine said: “It all started with a wish list. I was writing about all the things I wanted to do.

“A sky dive was one of them. Then I thought I might be able to raise some money for cancer research at the same time.

“My son-in-law Ross was once in the Army, so he said he would do the jump with me and then it just snowballed.”

The list of those who will take the jump in Cambridge has now ballooned to ten.

These include Catherine’s daughter Siobhan Sinclair, 28, and her husband Ross Sinclair 28, both of Ramuz Drive, Westcliff, and daughter Kirsty Renvoize, 25, her partner Alex Tower, 30, who both live in Rayleigh. Plus her son Matthew Renvoize, 20, of Rutland Avenue, Southend.

Husband Robert, 61, who has also fostered a 15-year-old boy with Catherine, is unable to take part because of a bad back, but spoke with immense pride about his wife’s courage.

He said: “I am very sad, but also proud of what she’s doing. She’s not frightened of anything.

“We’d been taking her to the hospital for eight months trying to find out what was wrong and then we got this bombshell.

“We don’t know exactly how long she’s got.

“The jump is just something she wanted to do. I’ll be there holding the bags and cheering everyone on.”

Speaking of how she discovered the disease, Catherine added: “I hadn’t been very well for a while, but I have diabetes and I think the symptoms of that were covering up other problems.

“I went backwards and forwards to the doctors and hospital, but was getting nowhere and in the end my daughter pushed them to give me a scan.

“I was diagnosed almost immediately. I have a lot of pain in my back, but I am refusing to take strong painkillers yet.”

Anyone who would like to make a donation should visit www.justgiving.com/ catherinewatkins