Rebecca has been told all the NHS options have been exhausted in her cancer battle, but there is another treatment available
A mum battling stage four bowel cancer says she is in a race against time – but is determined to stay alive for her young son. Rebecca Rogers, from Sturry, near Canterbury, says she wants to do all she can to beat the aggressive disease for 13-year-old Oscar and her partner, Jamie Keyes.
NHS doctors believe the 36-year-old is too weak to undergo full-strength chemotherapy, so she is pinning her hopes on private treatment she believes could save her life. It includes travelling abroad for a pioneering – but costly – procedure, so the mum-of-one has launched a desperate fundraising bid to give her the best chance of survival.
“I just want to stay being a mother to my son, Oscar, a partner to Jamie, and a daughter and sister to my family,” she said. “I’ve exhausted all the NHS can offer me, but there are other oncology treatments I could try, and that is my plan.”
One of the treatments she hopes to access is called transarterial chemoembolisation (TACE), which directly targets tumours and is available in Germany. “As you can imagine, it is very expensive but also very effective in curing patients with stage four cancers,” she said.
Rebecca has now launched a GoFundMe page in a bid to raise £100,000 to pay for treatment she is not currently being offered on the NHS. “I understand the amount of money I am asking for is a lot, but this will include the TACE, too,” she said. “I have made a list of what the money will be spent on and how much some of the treatment costs.”
Rebecca, who grew up in Herne Bay and went to the local high school, is one of six siblings and previously worked as a housekeeper at the Chaucer Hotel in Canterbury. She has suffered with bowel problems since she was 12 years old and had her large colon removed when she was just 14.
This later led to complications, and she developed a benign Desmoid intestinal tumour, which over the course of 17 years grew to the size of a football. Doctors decided against removing it because of where it was located, but in May last year, Rebecca developed a serious infection in the tumour that saw her spend five months in hospital and lose five stone in weight.
She was discharged in October and placed on the waiting list for a full bowel transplant, but just two months later, routine tests showed she had cancer in the organ. In January, she underwent surgery to remove as much of the cancer as possible, but scans later revealed it had spread to her liver.
In April, doctors in Ashford told her they believed she was not strong enough for a full bout of chemotherapy as she was susceptible to another infection, so she was given a half dose. Devastatingly, she was told last month that her cancer was stage four.
Rebecca says doctors are concerned about further infection, so she has only been offered another half-dose of chemotherapy when she finishes a course of antibiotics she is on. But she believes she is strong enough to undergo a full bout and wants nothing left to chance as she bids to defeat the disease.
“I actually feel a lot stronger than I was before the operation when I was in a wheelchair, but it seems the NHS can’t offer me any more,” she said.
“So my last resort is now to go private because it’s a race against time to get me the treatment I desperately need. I know the NHS is doing all it can for me, but there are other treatments in private medicine that are available. I just want to give myself the best possible chance of beating this, and want to know I’ve done everything I could have done.”
Rebecca has the support of partner Jamie, 28, who works for an emergency locksmith company, and her family. Jamie said: “I’m hoping to do a sponsored run from Canterbury to London, and Oscar is thinking up some ideas too.
“We also have friends who are coming up with fundraising plans, so it’s all hands on deck.”
Rebecca’s GoFundMe page has so far raised more than £3,000 of its £100,000 target. “I am truly grateful for any donations I may receive, but I am strong and can do this with your help,” she said. GoFundMe link: https://gofund.me/0862b5e6