Dronfield: Mum raises £60k for treatment abroad for rare cancer

Amy Smith has been living with a rare form of cancer since 2016

A woman with a rare form of cancer has raised more than £60,000 in just one week for a specialist treatment in Germany.

Amy Smith has a brain tumour which affects her spinal cord - and at Christmas was told she had just months left to live.

The 42-year-old said she needed to raise the £60,000 to afford immunotherapy treatment abroad.

She said: "I'll do everything I can to try and find a treatment to help."

The mother of one, of Dronfield, Derbyshire, says the treatment is not available on the NHS.

Ms Smith next to her young daughter

Her fundraising page has now gone past her initial target amount, which was set up only six days ago.

Ms Smith said her cancer treatment started in 2016 after she was told she had a spinal cord tumour. She had to have surgery to remove it, but only 95% of the tumour was taken out.

After six months in hospital in the spinal injuries unit, Ms Smith had been out of hospital for only a day before doctors said the tumour had started to grow again, which meant she had to undergo chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

'Expecting about £80'

In December 2022, after three rounds of unsuccessful chemotherapy, Ms Smith said the hospital stopped all treatment because it wasn't working.

Ms Smith put out an appeal on social media earlier this week to raise the funds for the treatment abroad.

"I wasn't expecting the response I've had and the generosity and kindness of people," she said.

"I was expecting about £80, so I'm just overwhelmed."

After being told she had just weeks to live, Ms Smith said: "They were going to make me comfortable for what was going to happen but I wasn't willing to accept that and give up.

"I've got a daughter, she's the most important thing in my life, and I'm not going to leave her without a mum, so I'm going to do everything I can to try and find a treatment that's going to help.

"If that means going to Germany for treatment, then that's what I'm going to do."