The months before you become a mum should be the most exciting time of your life.
For Margaret Ambrose – who was getting ready to welcome her sixth child into the world – her joy at becoming a mother again was just as strong.
But the 42-year-old’s happiness turned to tragedy when she found out seven months into her pregnancy that she had breast cancer, and her baby girl had to be induced so that she could start treatment.
For her eldest daughter, Lizzie – who was 16 at the time and doing her school exams – it was heartbreaking watching her mother struggle.
“The hardest part was to see how frustrated she got that she couldn’t be the mum she wanted to be,” she said.
“After treatment she was exhausted and sometimes couldn’t get up the stairs.”
Despite her mother’s positivity and undergoing surgery, doctors discovered that the cancer had spread to her lungs.
And even with more treatment, she developed a brain tumour.
On Lizzie’s eighteenth birthday, she went to visit her mum in hospital after she had surgery to remove it.
“I remember thinking how well she looked. She was sat in bed writing Christmas cards – she was always thinking of others,” she said.
In early 2005, Mrs Ambrose’s condition began to deteriorate and she passed away in March that year.
Her husband, Tim, was left to care for all six children – ranging from a toddler to teenagers – single-handedly.
Lizzie said: “I had been thinking about going to university, but I also wanted to help my dad and was worried about how he would cope.
“In a way it fell to me to take on a caring role, but I care so much for my brothers and sisters so it wasn’t a chore.”
For the past nine years, Lizzie, who lives at Kingswells, has had to live without the one person she called her “best friend” by her side.
From graduating to getting married, she said it was not the same celebrating without her beloved mum.
“I still have these moments when I want to ask mum for help. It’s then I realise how much I have lost,” she said.
Later this year, Lizzie, now 27, will take on the Scottish Half Marathon in her mother’s memory with her husband, Rob Harrop.
“I have always wanted to do something special for mum, and this will help raise money and awareness too.
“In a way it will be like what mum went through – there will be moments when I think I can do it and moments when I feel like I want to give up.
“But I won’t because mum never did.”