Thank you for saving my life by paying for cancer drug
Strangers rally for NHS nurse
AN NHS oncology nurse who crowdfunded her own cancer treatment has told how she is now in remission – and thanked the strangers who helped saved her life.
Mum Laura Harris, 43, had been given just three months to live after being found to have stage four bowel cancer.
But the bevacizumab treatment she needed has been ruled out by the NHS on the grounds its benefits “did not justify the costs”.
So Laura turned to the internet in the hope of funding two £21,000 courses of the drug.
And she was overwhelmed when thousands of generous strangers raised almost £100,000 – enough for five treatments. Laura has now revealed her latest scan shows no evidence of active disease, which she describes as a type of remission.
Breaking the news to her supporters on Facebook she wrote: “Thank you for saving my life.”
Laura added: “My family and I are understandably over the moon. It shows the world that stage four cancer doesn’t have to be an automatic death sentence.
“The response we’ve had, from my community and the world, has truly been overwhelming.”
Laura, of Barnstaple, Devon, is mum to Molly, 14, and Noah, 16, and stepmum to Zach, eight.
She was diagnosed last year and given just months to live – but returned to work caring for fellow cancer patients at North Devon District Hospital.
The Mirror told in March how donations had begun flooding in from across the world – and Laura has now completed three courses of bevacizumab, alongside a new chemo drug.
She said: “My cancer deposits have all shrunk and been rendered inactive. This means none of my cancer is growing.
“My oncologist said about my recent CT scan that my lungs ‘look as if they’ve never had cancer in them’.
“We owe these great results not only to the oncology team leading my care but to each and every person who has donated or is going to donate.
“Without you we would be in a very different position. I’ll continue on it as long as it continues to work.”
Laura’s husband Paul added: “I’m looking forward to all the more memories we’re going to make together with this additional time.”