A TERMINALLY-ILL mum who planted her own memorial tree only to see it vandalised has planted what she hopes will be the permanent replacement.

Grove mum-of-two Dominique Hill was joined by friends and family yesterday as she planted her new willow tree by the village's Letcombe Brook.

It was less than two months since 100 friends and family joined an almost identical ceremony on February 2.

Just two weeks after that, unknown vandals had snapped the sapling in half.

With the village in uproar over the callous attack, the team at Nicholsons Garden Centre in Bicester, who provided the original tree, offered to plant the replacement for free.

This time, Mrs Hill added a plaque bearing her own poem, The Weeping Willow, which she hopes will explain why it is there and why it means so much.

Mrs Hill, 44, was diagnosed with terminal cancer in March last year and given two-to-five years to live.

In November, however, she was diagnosed with a rare complication of cancer called leptomeningeal carcinomatosis, in which the disease spreads to the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord.

This time, the former Army dental nurse was told she had roughly three months to live, or until February.

Ever since her first diagnosis Mrs Hill – wife of Army sergeant Darren and mum to Callum and Toby – has been tirelessly ticking off a 'bucket list' of once-in a lifetime experiences.

As well as flying in a plane over Oxfordshire, the family have been on several holidays – including a long-overdue honeymoon for Mr and Mrs Hill in Prague – and created a 'love lock bridge' at Wantage's Betjeman Millennium Park.

One of the things on the list was planting a tree.

Specifically, Mrs Hill wanted to plant a willow tree, just like the one she used to play on with her own dad, who died when she was five.

The tree was supposed to be a place where Callum, Toby and Mr Hill could go, sit and think whenever they wanted to get away from it all.

Yesterday, with the help of dozens of friends, the family finally made the dream come true.

She planting the tree in the ground, Mrs Hill read out the poignant poem.

She then told the crowd who had come to help: "You're going to be my family for my boys, so thank you."