We could make this Christmas extra special but that would be like admitting it might be my last. I don’t think like that...

right, I’m cried out now. I could have died but I was still alive – that was a gift. I had the time to tell my family how much I love them and decide how I wanted to live.”

Leah initially chose not to have chemotherapy as it offered her little extra time.

She also refused to ask how long doctors expected her to live, for fear that if the prognosis was poor, part of her would accept that and it would chip away at her positive outlook.

Instead, her research suggested immunotherapy, which boosts the body’s own ability to fight the cancer, was her best chance of prolonging her life.

But it was not available on the NHS and she would have to pay for treatment privately in Germany. Her family appealed to relatives and friends for help raising the money on a private Facebook page, but it wasn’t long before the news spread and the public raised nearly £65,000 in just two weeks.

Leah says: “I am the most private person, so it was a real shock. All of a sudden, my whole life was thrown into the public arena. That was awful, but the response from the public was overwhelming.”

Before Leah could fly out, a new consultant discovered she was eligible for a targeted drug which she qualified for thanks to her Chinese heritage on her mother’s side. But by March this year, it was clear the new treatment was no longer working.

She had her first chemo in the summer to help manage symptoms, which now qualifies Leah for a new immunotherapy drug only recently approved in the UK. She says: “I tried to get into the mindset that I would work with the chemothought,

or Leah, travelling to Germany remains an option, but she will need to raise even more money to fund the expensive treatment.

In the meantime, the generous donations have helped fund a range of alternative treatments, including an infrared sauna which Leah uses every day to keep her body temperature up.

She uses a range of supplements, plant oil, meditation, and has attended a shamanic festival in France. She has also completely changed her diet.

She says: “I was a vegetarian, but I had to start eating meat again. I have also cut

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