MUM’S MEXICO BID TO TREAT RARE CANCER
A MUM told she had two years to live just months after giving birth is hoping alternative treatment in Mexico will extend her life.
Laura Cafferty was diagnosed with a rare form of aggressive cancer on her 34th birthday last March.
She was told if she was lucky she would live for another two years.
The mum of one, from Kilmovee in Co Mayo, is currently based in Jersey with husband Karl and their 18-month-old daughter Maya.
Her condition – leiomyosarcoma – affects around six in one million women and was identified when a tumour was found in Laura’s leg.
Speaking about the diagnosis, Karl said: “We had just got married and had our daughter. She’s good therapy for Laura, it keeps her smiling.”
L aura had been undergoing intensive chemotherapy from April until July last year in Southampton.
But the cancer spread to her pelvis, back and spine and she was told there were no further NHS treatments available.
Karl, 36, said: “We flew over to Southampton once ever y three weeks for four days and she was hooked up solid for those four days.
“We had a meeting with the oncologist after that and he just said, ‘ This isn’t working, the tumour has grown and there’s not much more we can offer’.
OPTIONS
“Laura said, ‘Right, lets look at other options.’ That’s all we could do.”
The couple, who have been together for almost 13 years, decided to undergo experimental chemotherapy and immunotherapy at a clinic in Monterrey, Mexico.
It cost more than €34,000 for the first round of treatment and will cost €9,000 each time after that.
Karl added: “She’ ll be back in Mexico in June and September for 14 days. Then it’ ll be every six months until she’s better.
“There was one guy in the US riddled with bone cancer and he had it everywhere and 50% has disappeared since he started treatment.”
The electrician, from Charlestown, Co Mayo, said it’s too early to say if the experimental therapy is working.
Karl said more than €91,000 has been raised so far by the Laura’s Fight Against Cancer campaign and the support has been “phenomenal”.
He added: “It’s not only Mexico [we have to travel to], there’s plenty of travel to the UK.
“Some people just say ‘ Ah right’ and sit around and wait until the end. You just have to keep going.”
■ To support Laura’s campaign visit www.gofundme.com/lauras-fightcancer-fund
in one million women in the world are diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma each year