Findon woman shares story of her horrible year to prove there is always a light at the end of the tunnel

This year has been filled with its fair share of hardship.

But for Joanne Beck from Findon, it seems to have gone from bad to worse, with her mother’s death, a postponed wedding and honeymoon and a painful camping accident.

Despite it all, the 51-year-old has tried to remain positive. She said: “We can’t go back and change what has happened, so we have to deal with these moments in our lives and move forward.”

On January 14, her son Louis’ bike was stolen, and on January 31 Joanne’s mum Denise died of lung cancer aged 70 with her funeral on Feb 21 – thankfully before lockdown began.

Joanne, a mental health worker, was then separated from her sister and aunt while trying to process her own grief and struggling through work from home.

In April, her wedding to fiancé Mike Button at the Dome Cinema on May 23 was postponed and their honeymoon Mediterranean cruise was cancelled. Attempts to rebook it to go to Mexico instead also failed.

So at the end of August, Joanne took her two teenage sons on a trip to Devon for a well-needed break. But while camping at Osmington Mills near Weymouth, Dorset, she knocked a pan of boiling water onto her thighs, leaving her with second-degree burns.

Determined not to let 2020 be a complete write-off, Joanne and Mike will be holding their wedding on October 22 at the Dome, and plan to go to Cyprus on honeymoon.

Joanne thanked her family and friends for supporting her, and had these words of advice for anyone going through a similar situation.

She said: “Grief is like an earthquake, there are aftershocks, and then if other things are added in to shake your world up more it can be catastrophic.

“We have to deal with our grief in order to be strong enough to move on to face other challenges.

“You cannot change some things, they are out of our control, so start with things you can change.

“A little at a time is good enough. My mum would always say: ‘what a difference a day makes, 24 little hours’.”