Family hoping to raise £4,000 for alternative cancer treatment after beloved mum, 54, told she has "9-12 months to live"

The family of a beloved Rochdale mum and grandmother are hoping to raise £4,000 to fund an alternative chemotherapy treatment after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Linda Smethurst, 54, was diagnosed with cancer in August 2022 after a bowel blockage following months of illness. She underwent an emergency operation but later blood tests in March this year showed the cancer had returned to her bowel, but also spreading to one of her ovaries and possibly her liver.

The mum-of-four was told on 9 October that she had around nine to 12 months to live after the chemotherapy she had been receiving hadn’t worked, and she was no longer able to undergo a life-saving operation.

Linda’s daughter, Emma Revell, said: “We were expecting to be told an admission date for surgery to remove as much of the cancer as possible. The consultant advised us that the chemotherapy hadn’t worked and that the cancer was too far spread to be able to operate.”

Instead, the family were told palliative chemotherapy – which Emma says has just a 20% of working – was the only option, but would only add six months to Linda’s life.

“We left this appointment feeling heartbroken and at a loss, as she has basically been written off: in their opinion, there are no more options other than to offer a 20% chance chemotherapy to keep her comfortable for however long that may be,” Emma said.

Refusing to accept this, Linda found a local private clinic offering holistic treatments, including high doses of vitamin C, administered intravenously.

Vitamin C – or ascorbic acid – as a cancer treatment has been pioneered since the 1950s, with some studies showing that large doses can kill tumour cells.

However, the Mayo Clinic says these trials were “flawed” whilst Cancer Research UK says the evidence supporting this is “mixed.”

It was at the local clinic where Linda heard about a professor in Germany who carries out trans arterial chemoembolisation (TACE), a treatment where chemotherapy medicine is directly injected into the blood vessels feeding the tumours.

Linda flew out to Germany in October where she underwent the TACE treatment after a consultation and returns on 22 November to see if the TACE procedure has prevented the tumours from spreading.

Emma continued: “The professor has given a better outlook as to our mum’s situation and has not written her off like the UK has done, and he has advised he is not going to give up on her.

“The cost however for Germany is £3,400 per session plus travel expenses, plus the £300 costs of her vitamin C sessions that she has before chemotherapy and after.

“The chances are she will need several visits. As a family, we have rattled our savings, we have all been trying to pull together, but now we really need help with fundraising the costs to get treatment for her.”

Emma and her siblings, Ellie, Brandon and Andrew, have started a fundraiser to try and raise an initial £4,000 but they expect the costs to keep rising with a need for further treatment.

Emma added: “Our mum is the most wonderful person, she is kind, funny, thoughtful and would do anything for anyone. Our mum is also a nanny to three very young children aged three, five and nine, and she is loved so much by them.

“We cannot settle for what the NHS have told us and we need to continue fighting and getting her alternative treatment so we and her grandchildren can have her for many more years to come. We are doing all we can to try and save our mum’s life.

“Any donation you can give, whether it is small/large, would be greatly appreciated.”

Donations can be made via GoFundMe:

• www.gofundme.com/f/please-help-our-mum-get-lifesaving-treatment