A grieving son has paid tribute to his “caring” mum who died just weeks after doctors discovered a cancerous brain tumour.

Mum-of four Lorraine Janczewski, from Maidstone, first noticed something was wrong when she fell over a few times while out bowling for one of her son’s birthdays.

At first no one thought anything of it but after she began to feel dizzy and confused she went to hospital on October 16.

Her oldest son John explained: “They did some tests and it turned out she had a mass on the brain which then after speaking to specialists in London it turned out that it was a cancerous brain tumour.

“First they said, depending on results, that she would have three months worst case scenario but up to three years best case scenario.

“It wasn’t great but we thought three to four years would be fantastic.

“But they couldn’t operate or do chemo so it then became a case of making her comfortable for a few months. And then 10 days later she was gone.

“She deteriorated really quickly.”

Lorraine was unable to speak for the three days before she died but could still communicate by putting her thumbs up and down.

Dad-of-two John said: “My last memory of my mum while she was still coherent is that I got to the hospital and she was still able to open her eyes slightly.

“She could see it was me and I was telling her that I was going to sing Spice Girls at her funeral and she started waving her hands and shaking her head saying ‘no’.

“Its so daft and so silly that that’s my last memory of my mum but I’m so glad that it was a happy one.”

Lorraine died on Sunday, November 12, aged 57 – less than four weeks after she was told she had cancer.

She had previously been a support worker and a carer.

“She helped people that couldn’t help themselves and tried to better their lives and help them to become independent,” John explained.

Lorraine was mum to four children – John, 37, Robert, 35, Kelly, 34 and Ben, 23 – and had 10 grandchildren.

She was a “big animal person” who had dogs and cats throughout her life and played darts multiple times a week.

John said: “When I was a kid before my parents separated we used to take trips to France and Belgium on the ferry.

“We had lots of family holidays. My mum was very, very kind and loving and a great parent to us.”

They grew up in Chatham but Lorraine lived in Tovil during her childhood and in Maidstone for most of her adult life.

John added: “I moved to Scotland a couple of years ago so I wasn’t able to see her as much in the last couple of years but during Covid we used to video call all the time.

“I do feel like my kids have missed out. My mother-in-law died just before my kids were born so I feel like they’ve lost both of their nans at quite a young age or before they were even born.”

His grandparents, Lorraine’s parents, fostered children for more than 25 years before they died.

John recalled: “My mum never did that officially but there’s a lot of people that called my mum ‘mum’ or aunt and she was just like a second parent to them.

“She just kind of had that loving spirit where she wanted to help people. I’m very proud of that. I just wish we had more time with her.”

The family have set up a gofundme to raise money to help with funeral costs. Donations can be made here.

The funeral is being held at Vinters Park Crematorium in Maidstone on Wednesday, December 6.