Mum's warning to anyone who smokes or vapes after devastating diagnosis

A mum-of-four who smoked for 30 years and then vaped for four has told her children and others not to take up the habits after being diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. Beverley Mills, 52, from Brecon , was given the devastating news just three days before Christmas last year after first being diagnosed with a collapsed lung. “On December 22nd, our world changed," says her husband Paul. "It was just before Christmas, when life should have been full of lights, food, children, noise, and the ordinary madness of being a family. "Instead, we received news no family is ever ready to hear. I will always remember the call." For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here . He added: "I remember hearing my wife crying. I remember looking at my eldest daughter, and without a word being spoken, we both knew. "There are moments when language is too slow. The body understands before the mind can catch up. My daughter saw my face. I saw hers. The truth moved between us without needing to be said. "In that instant, something in our family life cracked.” Paul describes Beverley as "the centre of our family". She is "mum, wife, friend, warmth, humour, stubbornness, kindness, home. She is the person we gather around, often without even realising we are doing it". He admits that when she was given the diagnosis "I have never known fear like it". "A deeper fear. The kind that sits in your stomach from morning until night. The kind that makes the future feel like a door you are afraid to open,” he said. As a former nurse who worked on a palliative care unit, Paul says he knows, from both sides of the bed, that cancer is a physical and mental battle. That's why Paul and their children have encouraged Beverley, a former school cleaner and hotel housekeeper, to keep moving. Despite her diagnosis and four rounds of chemotherapy in less than six months Beverley is taking on a charity swim to help others. It's something she couldn't imagine doing when she began feeling unwell in October last year. When she began feeling breathless in October last year Beverley's GP sent her for an X-ray on December 16, 2025. Doctors told Beverley she had a collapsed lung so she decided to take it easy and was looking forward to recovering and celebrating Christmas with her family. A few days later she was out for an end-of-term meal with other staff from Brecon High School, where she worked, when she had such an "excruciating" pain in her back that Paul rang an ambulance. That day changed their lives forever. "We went to Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil where I had an X-ray but the doctors said I couldn't go home without a CT scan," says Beverley. "From the CT they could see the top left of my left lung had completely collapsed in on itself." Doctors told Beverley she had a tumour in her left lung and secondary tumours in her liver and spine. "They think it started in my lung and spread. They don't know how long I had had it." On Christmas Eve Beverley asked to go home, in case it was the last Christmas she would have with her family. A week later she began chemotherapy at Velindre Hospital. "We sat and talked and had as good a Christmas as we could. On the Monday I saw Dr Essa at Velindre, who is amazing. He gave me devastating news that it was incurable, but I have maintenance chemotherapy and immunotherapy. "I started the chemotherapy two days later. I told him I am willing to try anything. Without treatment they said I had until the end of March or April. Lung cancer is the fastest growing cancer." Beverley has responded so well to the maintenance treatment that her collapsed left lung has re-inflated, although she still gets breathless. In June she is swimming a mile in the Distance challenge for the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation. Beverley aims to swim the mile in a series of visits to Brecon leisure centre pool to support the UK’s only charity dedicated solely to supporting people affected by lung cancer. Unable to walk far now, Beverley has a mobility scooter and says she's gone from "going at 100mph" as a working mother to 10mph and is looking forward to the challenge. Beverley, who started smoking aged 19, kept up the habit for 30 years until giving it up for vaping in 2022. She doesn't know that smoking and vaping caused the lung cancer, but said her mum, who smoked for 40 years, died from lung cancer aged 63. She recalls there were very different attitudes to smoking when she took up the habit as a teenager. She said: "I started smoking on nights out. I smoked five or 10 a day. "I would say to anyone: don't do it. If you can stop, stop and don't even put a vape in your mouth. I don't know if vapes are worse." Beverley says her children can't believe her when she tells them how when she was growing up it was legal to smoke almost anywhere, even in hospitals and on public transport. For now she is making the most of enjoying time with her family and friends and says husband Paul has been amazing looking after her. When her shoulder length hair began to fall out from the chemotherapy she did the Macmillan Brave the Shave challenge raising £2,000 for the charity. She enjoys spending time with her four children, Kerryn, 30, Rhys, 23, Eleanor, 21 and Gethyn, who turns 18 at the start of June, a few weeks before Beverley's 53rd birthday later in the month. June will be a busy time for Beverley and she wants to keep it that way. She said: "There is no timeline now but I can remain on maintenance immunotherapy. "There are loads of things I want to do but I am going with the flow. Paul is looking after me and has been amazing. If not for him I would have gone by now. "We walk our lurcher dog Zeus. I can't walk very far. I have a mobility scooter but am a little bit slow. I have gone from 100mph busy to 10mph. I was always busy before. "My friends are really good. I go for breakfast with my friends and they come to the house and sit and talk." Her friends will also join her on some of her swims. She said: “I want to do something positive with my diagnosis and help raise awareness and vital funds for Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation.” You can support Bevereley's charity swim here . WhatsApp community here . We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our Privacy Notice .