Family travel Australia after cancer diagnosis

Kate and her husband Kriss have been touring Australia with their three children

A mother-of-three with terminal cancer who sold her home and went travelling around Australia in a caravan is hoping to make as many memories with her children as she can.

Kate Hardman was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017 and given the all clear, but it returned while she was pregnant in 2023.

Her family packed up their home in Brackley, Northamptonshire, and moved to Australia, where they followed the British & Irish Lions rugby team around the country.

"Money can't put a price on any of those experiences," said Kate.

Kate's breast cancer returned when she was pregnant in 2023

In 2020, three years after Kate's breast cancer diagnosis, her husband Kriss was diagnosed with testicular cancer.

She said: "Having gone through the first diagnosis with me, as soon as he thought something was out of place, he went and got it checked... a lot of men don't do that because of the embarrassment."

Kriss was given the all clear, but in 2023 at 22 weeks pregnant, Kate found out her breast cancer had returned.

At 33 weeks, she found out the cancer had spread to her spine.

She was told it was terminal and that she had about three years to live.

The family are huge rugby fans and followed the British & Irish Lions during the tour of Australia

The 40-year-old said: "Since the diagnosis, we wanted to live our lives; we wanted to make amazing memories with the children while we still can.

"Life sometimes; you think we'll wait for a rainy day before we do that, our rainy days came all at once and we were like 'Do you know what? We are just going to get out and live and do what we want'."

The family moved to Darwin in the Northern Territory, before sub-letting their home and packing life up in a caravan to tour the country while sharing snippets on social media.

She, husband Kriss, 35, and their three children (aged eight, four and two), hit the road on 27 June.

They have visited cities including Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth and estimate they have travelled 3,644 miles (5,864km) on the road and 6,216 miles (10,004km) by plane.

The family watched all three games in the stadiums and Kate said it was "very top of the list" and to do it via caravan was "an amazing experience".

Kate's eldest son was a mascot for the British & Irish Lions' second match in Melbourne, walking out with captain Maro Itoje

The family have been able to meet some of the players, including giving them a motivational speech.

She said: "[Head coach] Andy Farrell had invited us to dinner to give the guys a bit of inspiration and present [Captain] Maro [Itoje] with his test jersey which was unbelievable, more than I can ever dream of."

Her eldest son was a mascot for the second test, walking out with Itoje in Melbourne.

"It was incredible, it was such a proud moment and we were made up for him," Kate said.

"When you get a diagnosis like that everyone deals with everything differently. For us we wanted to get out there... we didn't want to sit and dwell on things.

"If treatment changes or prognosis changes, then we'll deal with that when it happens."