The C word is banned in the Marvell household.

Rose Marvell and her family don’t give cancer the satisfaction of speaking its name. They will never give it that power.

Instead they refer to it as “the yucky”.

Rose has been waging a valiant war against the yucky for more than five years now. It began with breast cancer. Now it’s spread to her lungs, brain, eyes and bones. This is on top of Rose suffering a miscarriage, enduring a mastectomy and undergoing chemotherapy while carrying her second child.

But along with her husband Gary, their son Billy, 12, and five-year-old daughter Reenie, the 34- year-old mum from Basildon, is still standing – still fighting with all her might and although she’s been told her condition is terminal, she’s not giving up anytime soon.

“My children are my fight,” she said.

“I was told by the doctors that I’ve got until my daughter is seven. But who knows? Miracles do happen. Every day I carry on for my kids.”

It’s hard to know where to begin when describing the suffering that Rose and her family have endured. The first episode of bad luck struck in 2009 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. This was just weeks after suffering a miscarriage.

“I had only recently lost a baby and I’d found this lump in my breast,” she said.

“I put it down to the pregnancy but my husband kept nagging me to go to the doctors.”

Rose was lucky she took Gary’s advice. A biopsy found the lump was cancerous and Rose would need aggressive treatment.

As a twist of fate, at around the very same time Rose discovered she had fallen pregnant again. She was floored.

Doctors told Rose she would need chemotherapy the minute she was into her second stage of pregnancy when the risk of harm to the unborn fetus would be lower.

“It was amazing news on one hand, but then on the flip side we had the blow that I was living with breast cancer,” she said.

“I don’t think they wanted to give me the chemotherapy while I was carrying, but they said there was no way they could wait for nine months for the baby to arrive.

“ They did warn me the chemo could have an effect on the baby and symptoms could include limb loss or even worse.”

While she was pregnant, Rose also underwentamastectomy and put off a reconstructive surgery until after the birth.

“It was a scary time but as soon as I could feel the baby kicking inside me, that was it.

Our connection was so strong I knew she’dmake it.”

Little Reenie was born three weeks early via a natural birth and at first everything seemed fine.

She was 6lb and although she was small, everything seemed OK,” said Rose. “But then she started getting lots of spots on her face and over the months she just got so big, she wouldn’t stop growing.

“My instinct was something wasn’t right.”

Her instinct was bang on. A scan found that Reenie had a sizeable tumour in her adrenal gland which was producing hormones that were leading to her putting on excess weight – yet another trauma for the family to go through.

Fortunately, Reenie was sent to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London where surgeons removed the tumour safely. It is thought the tumour was caused by the life-saving chemotherapy Rose needed when she was pregnant.

“She pulled through and is doing really well now. She’s our angel. She has always been so strong,” said Rose.

After that Rose underwent breast reconstruction surgery at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford and for a while life was great.

“I remember life was brilliant.

I felt like I was getting over the cancer and my hair had grown back and I’d dyed it a vibrant red colour. Things were good.”

But then the pendulum swung back. While walking her son to school, Rose began to feel out of breath. She knew something wasn’t right. She found herself back at her GP surgery for more tests.

Rose was referred for a scan to see what was happening. In the back of her mind she knew there was a possibility the cancer had spread. She will never forget the day she was told the scan results.

“The nurse came out and said ‘I need you to come in here and see the X-ray’.

“I didn’t want to see what was on the screen. I was terrified.”

Rose relented and went into the room.

She remembered: “The nurse looked at me and pointed to the image and said ‘the white bits are all cancer’. I just felt like time stood still. The whole image was scattered with white bits. I wasn’t a doctor but even I could see the cancer was all over my body “I walked outside and fell to the floor on my hands and knees, sobbing.”

But yet again Rose picked herself up and has been doing so ever since – even after she was told the cancer had spread to various places in her body. She’s undergone countless rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, has a PICC line in her armand still has treatment every three weeks at Southend Hospital to try to keep the disease at bay.

In August, it was the start of a new chapter when Rose and Gary got married at the Holy Cross Church in Basildon. This was followed by a reception at the nearby Post Office Club.

Tying the knot with Gary, whom she met when they were both 21, was something Rose wanted to do not just for herself, but her entire family.

“I want my children to know their mumand dad were married. My son walked me up the aisle which was really emotional and my daughter was a bridesmaid – it was the most perfect happy family day.

“I even found my dream wedding dress in the first shop I went into. I wore a long brown wig for the ceremony and my daughter actually thought my hair had grown back it was so realistic.

“That day we got to make memories that will never fade. I feel so lucky.”

As a much-deserved act of kindness, the charity Willows Foundation, MakeAWish, organised for Rose to be transported to the church in a beautiful horse-drawn Cinderella pumpkin coach.

“It was something I’d always dreamed off, especially because I knew how happy it would make my daughter who is princess mad, but we couldn’t afford it. A charity stepped in and got it for us for the day.

“When I walked outside the house to see the coach standing there on the morning of the wedding I cried with joy. It was all done out in red and gold to match our colours. I was so happy.”

Whereas many couples would jet off to the tropics for their honeymoon, Rose and Gary opted for camping in Hampshire, simply because they wanted their children with them.

“I could never go anywhere without my kids with me now. I want to make the most of every minute, every second with them,” Rose said.

“We are trying to save up to afford a holiday all together next year, somewhere not too far away like Spain would be a dream. I just want to go somewhere hot because I get so cold all the time because of the treatment.”

Rose says her husband Gary, 34, and mumShirley have both been her pillars of support throughout everything.

“Gary and I met when we were 21. We were are at the Festival Leisure park and I was getting out of a cab and he sawme and that was it. We met and fell in love. I couldn’t ask for a better husband.

“And my mum, well she has been to every single hospital appointment with me. I couldn’t have done any of this without either of them.”

“I’d like to thank my husband and my children, my family and friends, Dr Trask and Jean the breast nurse Dr Ella, all the wonderful staff at Southend chemo unit, Mike Barnard, the Willows Foundation, and the Macmillan nurses. You have all been a tower off strength, thank you.”

Rose’s positivity and determination to never portray herself as a victim is exceptional. That’s not to say she hasn’t had more dark days than most.

“Some rounds of chemo have been so awful and I’ve literally not been able to lift my head up off the pillow or move for days or weeks on end.”

One thing has never wavered – the fact Rose won’t say theCword to the children at home.

“When I’m ill or need to go into hospital I’ll say ‘mummy’s got the yucky again so the doctors need to help me feel better’.”

Rose hopes that by sharing her story she might give hope to other people out there fighting cancer. She’d like to become a sort of mentor figure for other young Essex mums with the disease.

“I wish I could have had someone in my situation to chat to at the start just to tell me what the tests are like and to answer ‘will it hurt?’ and ‘howwill I feel?’, that sort of thing.

“I’d like to do that for others if I can. If just one person can read my story and can get inspiration or determination to fight a bit harder too then I’ll be over the moon.”