Mother wants more awareness of brain tumour symptoms

Hannah Roberts had her appendix removed as doctors looked for the cause of her symptoms

A woman whose daughter has been given 15 months to live due to a brain tumour wants to raise awareness of the symptoms.

Gail Iredale's daughter Hannah Roberts was 19 when she was diagnosed with a grade four glioblastoma last September.

Her problems were misdiagnosed several times and now her family, from Derbyshire, is trying to raise £250,000 for private treatment in the US.

Ms Iredale said early diagnosis gave patients "more options".

Gail Iredale and family are trying to raise £250,000 for treatment to extend Hannah's life

The family is currently trying to raise £250,000 - up from an original target of £150,000 - to travel to the US for immunotherapy treatment not available on the NHS.

For months before her diagnosis Ms Roberts, from Willington, had been going to the doctors suffering with migraines, nosebleeds and sickness.

She was prescribed hormonal pills, and even had her appendix removed, but the symptoms persisted.

Ms Iredale, 52, said: "I think it's important that these symptoms are recognised, so if it is a tumour that can be treated before it becomes a grade four glioblastoma, they have more options."

After months of being ill Ms Roberts, who worked for JCB as a welder before her health deteriorated, woke up and had lost vision and hearing on her left side, and a scan detected her tumour.

"I knew that something wasn't right, and I should have trusted my gut feeling," said Ms Roberts.

"When I first got diagnosed, I was thinking this is it now. Now, my mum's found this option abroad, it makes me feel so much better. I actually feel like I've got a bit more of a chance"

She has already undergone months of treatment, including radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Hannah Roberts said it was "heartwarming" that people had supported the appeal

Ms Iredale said: "It was frustrating and there was a certain element of anger and desperation because you know that there's something happening but, because of her age, she was almost 'too young' to be affected by the disease and if young people are affected by the disease it's extremely rare.

"It isn't the first thing that would jump into any medical professional's head.

"She's 20, she was 19 at the time, she should have a future. She's not going down without a fight."

The family said they had been inundated with donations of games, football shirts and designer handbags which they were selling on eBay to raise funds.

They have also organised numerous fundraising events, detailed on a dedicated Facebook page, and had been "blown away" by people's generosity.

"What started as 10 hours of sitting in our garage scanning people's donations of CDs and DVDs quickly grew to £163,000 which we're at now, with a lot of help from friends, family and JCB, who have been absolutely outstanding," said Ms Iredale.

"When I stop and think about the gravity of what we've raised to take her over there, I'm proud of everybody that's got involved. Those are the people who have dug their hands in their pockets and given us things.

"Without all of that involvement, we'd be nowhere near saving Hannah's life."

Ms Roberts added: "I can't believe what people have done. It's quite heart-warming that I'm not just left alone."

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