Concerto for piano and a will to live

A CLASSICAL pianist who was given weeks to live after being diagnosed with cancer will perform tonight at what was intended to be her memorial concert.

Stephanie Openshaw, 33, currently in remission, said yesterday: "I know I'm not supposed to be at my own memorial concert, but I intend to give the performance of my life. It's like a black comedy, and I can see the funny side of it."

Ms Openshaw, a graduate of the Birmingham Conservatoire, was diagnosed with breast cancer five years ago, two years after the birth of her daughter, Sophie. She had a mastectomy, but three years ago learnt that the cancer had spread to her lungs.

The memorial concert, at St Edmund's Church in Crickhowell, Powys, her home town, was planned nine months ago when she was given a few weeks to live.

Since then Ms Openshaw has undergone an experimental treatment and defied the prognosis.

She is now strong enough to play the piano again and ride her two horses. "I take each day as it comes and I'm enjoying life," she said.

Before the cancer diagnosis she was in demand as an accomplished pianist. She won the John Ireland prize for piano playing three years in a row, then the Ludlow Philharmonic prize for concerto.

At the concert, she will play a selection of music by Rachmaninov, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms and Debussy. The proceeds will go to Macmillan Nurses, the charity that helps the terminally ill.

Ms Openshaw said: "The doctors thought I was too young to have breast cancer but when they removed the lump two years later they found it was cancer."

Ms Openshaw underwent a mastectomy but three years later the cancer came back in her lungs. When two rounds of chemotherapy failed, she feared the worst.

She said: "I was in hospital and the nurses were telling my family that all they could was keep me as comfortable as possible.

"Everyone was saying it was curtains for me but I was not ready to go. I got out of bed and discovered I had to learn to walk all over again."

She volunteered to have an experimental new cancer treatment that uses powerful toxins from the poisonous yew tree. Most patients can stand just two treatments but Ms Openshaw managed six. Her cancer is now in remission.