My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010. Had a lumpectomy and it was found to have spread to many lymph nodes. She had chemotherapy but had to stop after 4 sessions as it was making her too unwell. I attended all her appointments and chemo' sessions. Once chemo had stopped she recieved news that it has responded well. She was given a drug therapy.

About 3 months later my mother stopped me from attending appointments, despite me saying I was more than happy to. She became quite stressed if anyone suggested going in with her. Soon after a follow up appointment my mother told me her cancer had metastatised and was now in her liver and she had been given a different drug therapy. Each scan she had following that she attended alone with follow ups alone. She would feedback that the cancer was there but not spreading. Obviously I was relieved. I asked her if they had said they could cure this cancer and she then told me it was terminal.

This was a very difficult time and as a family we were clearly devastated. I spoke independently to a friend who's father was an oncologist and he told me it was likely that her prognosis as she explained it would give her a life expectancy of around 5 years which my mother confirmed.

As the years went on my mother became more and more cagey about appointments and nothing she said made much sense, one minute she was told bad news then it settled. As she reached 5 years with no change to her health I asked her if her prognosis had changed and she replied it hadn't and was adamant the cancer was there but unchanged. Not knowing much I didn't wonder too much, just relieved she was still alive.

As more years went on and she had more scans and appointments with no change I continued to wonder if she had got her prognosis right - every time I asked she now became upset and would fall out with me.  When the pandemic hit, 10 years after she was given her prognosis,  we were obviously very concerned. I asked her if she was shielding and she said she didn't need to, her Dr had said just to be careful. This is when I really started to become suspicious. Of course I didn't want to, nor did I call her out, but it became clear that something did not add up. Given her prognosis and lack of any treatment - other than Tomixifen, nothing has changed.

I called an independent advice line with my concerns and was told that with the prognosis she had claimed it would be unlikely she would a) be alive b) not have needed more treatment in that time c) not have recieved a shielding letter. 

I gently confronted my mother with this who told me that she had prayed for a miracle and recieved it. 

My question is, how likely is that? A complete cure with no medical intervention?  My mother does have significant mental health issues, including a narcissistic personality disorder. There is no doubt she did have cancer - I was there, but has she lied to me about the rest? I think I do know the answer already but all this has been so traumatic for me and she has told me I'm a nasty, uncaring person that I don't know what to believe. 

Thank you for reading.