Woman with terminal cancer opens respite lodge

Hannah Roberts and her mother Gail Iredale have been working on the lodge for 18 months

A 22-year-old cancer patient has opened a respite lodge for teenagers and young adults going through treatment for the illness.

Hannah Roberts from Willington, Derbyshire, was 19 when she was diagnosed with a grade four glioblastoma.

She was training to be a welder at JCB when she was told she had 14 months left to live, but has since surpassed that prognosis by nearly two years.

Ms Roberts said of the lodge: "I can't even put my feelings into words about how proud, excited, happy and all-round flabbergasted I am."

Rubus Lodge will provide free breaks for young people going through cancer treatment

In March 2024, a charity - Hannah's Hope - was set up in her name.

Through the charity, she and her family and friends raised more than £200,000 to open a lodge at Mercia Marina, Willington.

Ms Roberts said people undergoing cancer treatment can come to the lodge without paying a fee to enjoy peace and quiet.

"When you come out of hospital you want to be somewhere that doesn't look like a hospital.

"The hospital can bring back memories of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, sickness, aching, anything like that.

"I wanted it to not look like a hospital so it doesn't bring those memories back, and it doesn't," she said.

Ms Roberts said the charity reached the target needed to purchase the lodge in March 2025, through car boots sales, bingos, raffles and by opening a shop at Mercia Marina.

The lodge has three bedrooms, a kitchen and lounge

The lodge has three bedrooms along with a kitchen, lounge, terrace and hot tub.

Ms Roberts' mother Gail Iredale, 54, said: "I don't think any of us can believe how many people were behind us to actually make this happen so quickly.

"It was less than 12 months for us to raise over £200,000 that we needed to order the lodge."

The lodge will be made available to cancer patients between the ages of 13 and 24, but Gail said the charity will also try to accommodate people outside of this age group who have been supported by the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Ms Iredale added: "If we can make life a little bit better for somebody, even if it's just a fraction, then I'm determined that's what we're going to do."

Ms Roberts had surgery at Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham and then transferred to the care of the Hogarth Teenage Cancer Trust at Nottingham City Hospital.

'Really devastating'

Her mother said £270,000 of fundraising had also been raised for Hannah's treatment and was ready to be used when it was needed.

"Every scan that we go in to, we're hoping for the best but we are actually prepared for the worst now.

"She's young, she's got youth on her side. We didn't think she'd make her 21st birthday and she got there.

"I wouldn't be so upset if it was me going through it and I knew that I was going to die but to watch your child, there's something really devastating about it.

"We have to help these people because there's nothing for them," she said.