I’mhalfwayto targetthanks
BY MARIA CROCE A SCOTS mum has hit the halfway mark after launching a fundraising appeal to pay for cancer treatment that could save her life.
Former Record journalist Roz Paterson says she has been overwhelmed by support – including from film star Karen Gillan.
Roz, 52, has an aggressive form of lymphoma blood cancer and says her best hope of surviving is to have treatment in the US.
The mum-of-two launched a crowdfunding campiagn to raise £500,000. And within a week, she has collected £250,000 though a Go Fund Me page and various fundraisers.
Roz’s campaign has been helped by Guardians of the Galaxy star Karen and TV design favourites Colin and Justin, who have shared her story with their millions of social media followers.
Roz lives in Beauly, near Inverness, with civil servant husband Malcolm McDonald, 62, and children, Thea, 13, and David, 10.
She said: “All the support has been tremendous. It really feels within reach.
“I knew Justin (Ryan) from university. He and Colin (McAllister) are old pals and they are getting people involved.
“Karen Gillan knows a friend of a friend in Beauly and has been re-tweeting stuff.”
Six months ago, Roz, who had been suffering from digestive problems, was diagnosed with stage 3 high grade large diffuse B-cell lymphoma, which has spread throughout her lymphatic system. Four rounds of chemotherapy failed and she has been warned she could have only weeks to live. Roz believes her best hope is CAR-T cell therapy – a type of immunotherapy – which is available at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She needs to raise £500,000 for the treatment and hospital bills and she plans to take her husband and children so they are together, whatever the outcome. Roz, who has worked as an environmental journalist and support worker, said the cancer diagnosis was a bombshell but she was initially hopeful that treatment would be successful.
She said: “We were able to say to the kids that there were treatment options and a huge success rate. We thought it would be all over by Christmas and then we’d be able to get on with our lives. I thought my cancer would be cured.”
While she was having chemotherapy, Roz lost her long blonde hair. She struggled to eat, lost about 11lbs and suffered severe pain.
Roz added: “When the chemotherapy failed, the consultant said, ‘You have to consider that you might not get better. Your chances have gone down to 25 per cent.
“When I asked, ‘What’s my life expectancy’, the consultant said, ‘It’s not days – it’s weeks, possibly months but it’s not a year’. That w October.
“I knew I had to talk to the kids had to say to them my chances ar