Cressida Bonas’ sister Pandora Cooper-Key, 51, says she’s planned her funeral ‘thousands of times’ as she reveals she been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour amid 24-year cancer battle

Cressida Bonas’ sister Pandora Cooper-Key  has opened up about being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour, adding that her health struggles have been ‘traumatic’ for her family who have planned her funeral ‘thousands of times’.

Pandora, 51, who is the daughter of former It girl Lady Mary-Gaye Curzon, 77,  and aristocrat Esmond Cooper-Key, is the mother-of-two teenage boys and has been fighting different forms of cancer for more than 20 years.   

Her father died of a brain tumour aged 42, and her mother went on to marry Jeffrey Bonas, with whom she welcomed Cressida Bonas, 35,  a society siren who famously dated Prince Harry and is reportedly well-liked by the Prince and Princess of Wales.

And while many would expect Pandora to be plastered all over the society pages  similarly to her sisters (who also include Richard Branson’s daughter-in-law Isabella Calthorpe and sculptor Georgiana Anstruther), she has kept a low profile 

And at the end of last year, Pandora, from west London, was told that she had a tumour on the left side of her skull that doctors could not operate on.

She is now facing rounds of immunotherapy in the hopes she will recover, after first being diagnosed with cancer aged 26 in 2000. 

Speaking exclusively to Femail she revealed: ‘[To operate] they’d have to go through blood vessels and that’s not great. 

‘So they categorically said in the first meeting “I’m really sorry, but we can’t.”

‘They said that chemotherapy won’t help me, but immunotherapy might really work. So I’ve done two doses.

‘There are a few side effects, but it’s hard for me to really know what they are because I’ve got so many other things going on. I’m in intense pain if I don’t take a lot of very strong painkillers.’ 

The former handbag designer says she is nervous to have her third dose of immunotherapy at the end of March because she will also have her first MRI scan to see if the treatment is working.

‘In the last few months, I probably have been the closest to feeling depressed than I’ve ever been and I’m not a depressive person. 

‘That’s been quite scary. There have been days where I’ve been like I can’t bear the pain. But then there’s something in me that bounces back.’

This is not the first time she has been told that she has a tumour. 

In 2000 aged 26, Pandora was diagnosed with Paget’s disease, a rare cancer of the milk duct. 

She was at home with her friend Serena, who she lived with at the time, and the pair were getting dressed when she noticed scratches on Pandora’s nipples.

‘She said “you’ve had those scratches for a while and they’re not healing, I think you really need to see a doctor.” It turned out to be Paget’s disease,’ Pandora said.

‘I decided to have a double mastectomy. I was very young, very frightened.’

Almost a decade later, Pandora left her role as handbag designer for Vivienne Westwood to have her son, adding that she was sad because it was ‘great fun’ and an ‘amazing place to work’. 

Only five weeks after giving birth to her firstborn, Pandora was then told the devastating news that she had sarcoma in her left eye and sinus area.

‘All of my taste and smell disappeared forever and the headaches I was having – I was pulling my hair out,’ she said.

‘I had the sinus removed with the tumour and then it was years of different infections, pneumonia, meningitis and seizures.’

She now has to wear an eye patch as an operation took away the tear ducts on her eye, meaning that it gets very dry and uncomfortable.

When asked about how her two sons are coping, she said: ‘I don’t think my children are old enough to actually manifest what’s really going on. Nothing is a secret with them and what’s going on. 

‘I wear a patch on my eye and I’ve got quite a lot of plasters [so] my face looks quite extraordinary and they don’t mention it. They don’t talk about it. They’ve never once ever said “Mum, why have you got that patch on your face? “.’

Pandora was also told that she only had ten months to live, before making a miracle revelation. 

‘Then this miraculous thing happened, I was in the hospital waiting for chemotherapy and my surgeons burst in and they said they had relooked at all my scans.

‘They said “I’m so sorry but we’ve made a mistake and the dark blurry patches that we thought were another tumour is actually just swelling from the chemotherapy you’ve had.”

‘I was sent home and my mother almost fell in the bath, she thought I’d been sent home to die. But it was a really happy ending.’

Despite the all-clear, Pandora was then told she had another tumour in her cheek, which was successfully removed, and also one at the back of her nose.

‘They took it out, but it kind of left me numb on the left side of my face and my jaw doesn’t open more than about two centimetres, so I can’t really eat big mouthfuls. I eat like a mouse,’ she said.

‘I think over the years, every hurdle is a hurdle and you just have to adjust to it in the best way you can.

‘It hasn’t been easy. It’s been so painful at times and so traumatic me and for my family. My mum keeps saying I should write a book, maybe one day.’

In 2016, Pandora went through a stage of having several seizures, which would sometimes lead to her becoming unconscious for a week.

She admitted that it was a tough time for her family and friends, particularly her sister Georgiana and husband Matthew Mervyn-Jones.

‘We went on a skiing holiday with my kids and my friends and my sister funnily enough was there also.

‘I had a terrible temperature. I was violently sick. 

‘I climbed into the car at the end of the day and I became unconscious. Then apparently my friend carried me and put me into a helicopter with my sister, who took me to Sion hospital where I didn’t wake up for a week.

‘My sister was in hysterics, poor thing. She said it was the most traumatic thing she’s ever been through, watching me, [she] didn’t know if I was dead or alive, waiting and waiting for me to wake up 

‘Then all my other family they all came out, which was lovely.

‘I saw them when I was awake. But it was quite horrific because just suddenly [their] whole world just changed. That was pretty scary.’

Pandora said there was another time where she and her husband Matthew, who she is now separated from, were sat in bed. He then awoke to her having a seizure and proceeded to call an ambulance.

‘I think it was a couple of days later, I don’t think I woke up immediately, and I had no idea what was going on,’ she said.

‘I was so upset because the ambulance team had ripped my favourite nightie and it had been cut straight down the middle, a little vintage number I found at the market.’

However, despite planning her funeral ‘thousands of times’ over the years, Pandora remains positive. 

‘I say new day, [I’m] very grateful, I have a lot, [let’s] get going [and] keep it up. I think staying positive and keeping on the road of positivity has been my saving grace.

‘My family has been very supportive. We’re like rocks to each other. I’d feel lost without [them]. 

‘My mum is amazing. She’s a proper queen bee to all of us and my relationship with my sisters and my brother is just… we’d do anything for each other. 

‘We tease each other a lot, but we really love each other.

‘I can’t imagine not having such a lovely family, I don’t know how people cope. It’s been really nice for me to have them all and honestly, they did not leave me alone. 

‘When I came out of hospital, the doorbell was going all the time.’

Around two years ago, Pandora launched her homeware brand, Curzon Blue, after she fell in love with glassware at Portobello Market.

‘I went to the market on a Friday, when they had these fabulous stores selling these amazing, vintage things. I came across this glass and I just [thought] it was beautiful.

‘I mean, my whole life has been about colour and shape and style. I can’t go anywhere without being captivated by colours.’

The name has a heartfelt meaning behind it, along with a touching nod to her mother. 

‘It’s called Curzon Blue because my mother’s maiden name is Curzon and her fourth husband made a cocktail called Curzon blue. 

‘It’s really delicious and it will knock you off your perch in a heartbeat. It just felt like  a really nice thing to do to incorporate my two amazing backgrounds.’

Throughout her battle with various tumours, Pandora has continued working on her business and shares her love of glassware both on her website and her Instagram.

‘I could never stop. It’s a wonderful thing, choosing beautiful things and going to incredible places to find them. It’s wonderful,’ she said.

Despite feeling weak, Pandora still travels to the markets in search of glass for her business, adding that it has brought a sense of relief to her ongoing health battle.