Natalie McKenna, like most people, has had a strange year.

She has had to change the way she lives, stop seeing loved ones and adapt to a world in which Covid dictates almost everything.

But for Natalie, from Ramsgate, the pandemic is just one of several life-changing events in the last 12 months - which has had more highs and lows than most of us will ever see.

It began when the 44-year-old came out as gay, after twice being married to men - a huge and brave decision which then led to her meeting the love of her life.

But her ecstatic happiness was short-lived. Not because of Covid but due to a devastating brain cancer diagnosis.

The tumour, known as glioblastoma multiforme, is inoperable and brutally nicknamed ‘The Terminator’ with a prognosis of just 12 to 15 months.

And due to Covid restrictions, Natalie can’t even plan a bucket list.

Despite this, the receptionist, who works for Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust, is amazingly positive, admitting she doesn’t look at what time she has left, but instead focuses on each day.

“It’s been quite a year - coming out, meeting the person I love, Covid hitting and then being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer,” she said.

“But I’m not ready to hang my heels up yet.

“I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I’m just sad that I left coming out so late and now I don’t have as much time to enjoy it.”

Natalie, who previously worked as a senior air stewardess for Virgin Atlantic, says she’d known for a while she was gay.

“I’ve been married twice and they both didn’t work out and I decided I wanted to be with a woman,” she said.

“I think I’d known for a while but didn’t admit it to myself and so just carried on.

“I wish I’d done it sooner now this has happened.”

But Natalie refuses to be down about her diagnosis and says this year has been life-changing and hard for everyone.

“I’d been working from home and I think everyone was getting used to a new way of living life,” she said.

"This brain tumour is nicknamed ‘The Terminator’ because there’s nothing they can do"

“Then in April I got a really bad headache. I don’t really remember but my mum says I couldn’t even get off the sofa.

“A couple of times an ambulance had to be called. They thought because I had a history of migraines that’s what it was.”

But the third time it happened, medics feared she had suffered a stroke as she was unable to talk.

A CT scan was carried out and her devastating diagnosis was revealed.

“This was at the point you couldn’t have anyone with you because of Covid,” she said.

“I went in the ambulance on my own, had the scan on my own and was alone when they told me they couldn’t operate.

“This brain tumour is nicknamed ‘The Terminator’ because there’s nothing they can do. It’s deadly. And I found out with no family or friends with me.”

Tom Parker, from boy band The Wanted, was recently given the same diagnosis - and he has asked not to be told how much longer he has left to live.

Natalie says while she knows the prognosis, she too is not focussing on time.

“I don’t really think about dying; I think about what my life is like, I think about today,” she said.

“I’m not working at the moment but once I’m well enough, I’ll go back - I’ve had enough time at home. I find it hard not working and not seeing friends.

“The awful thing about Covid is it takes away all the things you want to be doing when your life is shortened.

“I can’t have a bucket list.

“I don’t know how long I’ve got and so I’d love to be doing things; travelling to see a place I’ve always wanted to see, seeing friends, spending time with people.

“Instead I have to self-isolate.

"When I’m not feeling too bad and I can, I’m going to get my nails done, dress up, get a nice wig and have some fun."

“It makes me want to tell others to have special times with their family, take everything that they can.

“This just came out of the blue for me and it makes you realise you should grab everything with both hands.”

Natalie doesn’t drink or smoke and says she was “really healthy”.

“I’d joined a running group, then suddenly Covid came and then I got cancer,” she said.

“It’s not a cancer you can go into remission with - this is a death sentence, not that I look at it like that.

“They do call it terminal but I’m a stubborn person, I’m not going to let this get me down.

“When I’m not feeling too bad and I can, I’m going to get my nails done, dress up, get a nice wig and have some fun.”

Natalie says she is changing things in her life, such as her diet, in the hope it could buy her a bit more time.

She admits, therefore, how frustrating it is to see people flouting Covid restrictions when the virus could prove fatal for her and others in her position.

“I see all these people who don’t wear their masks and they should think about people like us a little bit more,” she said.

“I’m not going out. I might walk the dog in the evening when no-one is around, but it’s more about if my mum is out and someone scoots past her without a mask, she could then bring it home.

“That’s lethal for me. People need to think more about the impact it has on others.”

Natalie is currently on her fourth round of six sessions of chemotherapy, she’s had radiotherapy as well as taking ‘off the shelf’ medication which she says will hopefully help extend her life.

Medics at King's College Hospital also managed to remove a large part of her frontal lobe tumour although it is too dangerous to take it all away.

“It’s not about curing me but getting a few more years,” she said.

“I’ve got amazing support from my family. My mum is brilliant, she’s always doing research.

“I now rest when I need to. I found that hard at the start because I’m an active person.

“It was awful having that taken away from me. I can’t drive now either which is difficult as I’ve always been an independent person.

“But I can’t look at what life was - I have to look at what I’ve got and what my life is like now.

“As I said, those heels are not ready to go away yet. Positivity and believing in myself with my beautiful family and friends is the support which helps me through.”

Natalie’s mum Pat says brain cancer research is desperately underfunded.

“We know times are hard, but really there is so little funding for this compared to other cancers,” she said.

“Until it comes into your life you just don’t realise.

“You never think about how lethal this is, until it happens to you or someone you love.”

Realising how little funding there is, Natalie started raising money for the Brain Tumour Charity.

To donate visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/natalie-mckenna3

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