Scottish Independent Media

By Claire Elliot

SHE has battled deadly superbug MRSA, is receiving treatment for a dangerous blood clot in her head, and is fighting cancer for a third time.

 But last night brave Samantha Johnstone, remained defiant in her struggle for survival, vowing: “I’m not going anywhere without a very big fight”.

The 21-year-old, from Lumphanan, Aberdeenshire, thought she had beaten rare bone cancer Ewing’s sarcoma after almost three cancer-free years.

She returned to school, went on to university and was looking forward to a bright future.
 

A scan following a fall down stairs in February last year, however, revealed the disease was back for a second time.
 

Now after a total of 20 cycles of chemotherapy, 11 weeks of radiotherapy and several blood transfusions since 2004, Miss Johnstone, is facing a third battle with the disease.
 

Doctors confirmed last month - only weeks after finishing her last treatment - that the cancer, which first took hold in her ribs, was now in her skull, shoulder, lower back and both her legs.
 

Miss Johnstone, said: “That was the last thing I expected to hear so I took it quite badly.
 

“It was a total shock because I had just finished chemotherapy.

 “But my family and friends are amazing and they all keep me going.
 

“I’ve got a lot of inner strength and a positive attitude which helps.
 

“I don’t just sit down and think ‘right, I’ve got cancer, I’m going to hide away and not bother doing anything’
 

“Cancer is part of my life, I’m not part of cancer‘s. That’s the way I see it.
 

“I just get on with it and take every day as it comes.”

 Miss Johnstone is scheduled to start more chemotherapy next month, although as the treatment has began to take its toll on her kidneys, doctors have told her it is a case of “trial and error”.
 

But she said: “I know my doctor will 110% do his best and I can’t ask anything more than that.
 

“It’s something I don’t have any control over. It is my life and I have to live. That’s why I take a back seat and let the doctor deal with that bit and I deal with getting on with what I can do.”
 

It has not been an easy fight, however.
 

In October 2004 Miss Johnstone contracted MRSA after having four ribs removed at a Glasgow hospital.
 

Now as well as fighting cancer for a third time, she is receiving daily injections to treat a blood clot in her head, for which she has already had three lumbar punctures.
 

It was discovered along with the return of the cancer last month after she started getting double vision and pains in her neck.
 

But despite her ongoing ordeal, Miss Johnstone has carried on working at a local industrial cleaning and waste disposal company, where she started in November.
 

And this month, supported by family and friends, she helped raise £4,500 for two cancer charities at a fundraising quiz night. They were the Anchor Unit Teenage Service Fund at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and the Bone Cancer Research Trust.

Miss Johnstone, who lives with her devoted parents Jackie, 45 and Stevie, 49, brother Stephen, 20, and sister Karen, 13, did enjoy nearly three years free from cancer, from April 2005 to February last year.
 

During that time she even began studying for a career in nursing at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen.
 

But after three work placements she decided it was “too close to home”.
 

She said: “Cancer is something that stays with you forever and going into hospital to work every day plus all my regular appointments, it was just too much.

 “I took everything so much to heart and at the end of every shift I just wanted to take the patients home.”

 Miss Johnstone, added: “It’s changed my opinion on life.

 “Before I was diagnosed I was totally friends orientated. But now family is really important to me. I love being around mum and dad.”
 

She said: “I do worry that things wont go my way.

“But no one has any guarantees in life. I’m just made that bit more aware about it.

“I just have to accept it and cross that bridge when I come to it.

“But I won’t be going anywhere without a very big fight.”

And she added: “It’s probably a blessing in disguise that I fell when I did.”
 

Paying tribute to her daughter’s courage, her mother Jackie, a clerical assistant for Aberdeenshire Council, said: “She is amazing, There is no other word for her.
 

“It’s just devastating that she has to go through it all again. It’s hard on the family because we feel so helpless and don’t like seeing her suffer.

“But she hardly complains. She just takes whatever is thrown at her. She’s got a great spirit and keeps

everyone going.”