“She was my motivation and my best friend,” is how Jamaican quarter-miler Akeem Bloomfield characterised his mother, Elizabeth Palmer, who died on Thursday morning after a three-year battle with metastatic breast cancer.

It was just about three weeks ago that Palmer revealed to Bloomfield and his sister, Kaydene Wright, that she had been fighting the dreaded disease but chose to keep it from them in order to protect them. However, by the time she told them the cancer had spread to her spine, taking away her ability to walk or stand.

“Words can’t express the feelings of loss and pain me and my family are going through right now. Unfortunately, my mother lost her battle against cancer yesterday and I would give anything just to have one more moment with her. She was more than just my mom, she was my motivation and my best friend,” Bloomfield posted on Instagram today under photographs of him and his now departed mother.

“I would like to thank all those who donated, whispered a prayer or just had her and my family in your thoughts.”

Bloomfield, the first Jamaican schoolboy to run under 45 seconds in the 400m and is the second fastest Jamaican over the distance having run 43.94 at the NCAA Championships in June 2018.

The grieving athlete has also just returned to training after suffering an injury during the 200m final at the Miramar South Florida Invitational on April 10.

The siblings started a GoFundMe account to raise US$65,000 to pay for medical expenses including surgery on her spine. However, their beloved mother died just weeks later.