Herald Express (Newton & Teign Edition)
Drugged up biker caused mayhem
AMOTHER given six months live by doctors has appealed for help to fund radical cancer treatment and “see my daughter grow up”.
Hospital worker Sophie Woliter, 34, is receiving therapy on the NHS to treat her liver from aggressive tumours.
But the chemotherapy is only expected to keep the disease at bay for so long. Now she is focusing her hopes on a potentially life-saving therapy offered by medics in Germany that has been shown to produce better results.
The TACE treatment targets chemotherapy directly at the liver. It is not offered on the NHS so Miss Woliter needs to raise the money to pay for it privately.
Friends have rallied round and set up a GoFundMe page that has so far raised more then £8,000.
Miss Woliter, who lives in Torquay, says she is determined to keep fighting and has made a desperate appeal for help.
She says: “I don’t necessarily mind if I have to live with cancer I just want to watch my daughter, threeyear-old Adelaide, grow up. Everybody says I’m very positive and strong, I just think that’s me as a person, someone who is just trying to get on with it. I’ve never been a quitter I just want to survive. I just want to focus on getting treatment. If I have to live with cancer the rest of my life I will as long as I can watch my daughter grow up.”
Miss Woliter, who works as an oncologist medical secretary at Torbay Hospital, was found to have polyps in her bowel 12 months ago. She was very ill for four months but says nine GPs did not diagnose cancer, saying she was too young.
Her agony increased when treatment led to the loss of her unborn child.
She was given a terminal cancer diagnosis in October of last year and told without any treatment she had six months to live. The cancer has now spread from her liver to her spine.
Doctors in Devon have tried immunotherapy but with little success and even worse side effects.
Miss Woliter has folinic acid, fluorouracil and oxaliplatin (Folfox) chemotherapy, a combination of drugs delivered intravenously in stages every fortnight. Her life expectancy is now 18 months.
“I’m looking at a treatment at the Frankfurt University Hospital in Germany,” she says. “There is a specialist in liver cancer there called Dr Vogl and I’m referring myself to him. He offers chemotherapy like the NHS but straight to the liver. It is very expensive but it is my only hope.
“All I know is that one lady had an 80% reduction in liver tumours after TICE and somebody else 50%. I know everybody is different but patients have been very positive. Each treatment is £3,300 but I would have to sleep and stay there the night and then there are the costs of the flights. I don’t know how much it will cost, but if the NHS isn’t willing to offer it then I owe it to my daughter and family to go private.”
Miss Woliter has thanked the “amazing” support she has received
.“from her fiancé Lewis Palmer and friends.
The couple met at the Templestowe Hotel in Torquay where Mr Palmer is the chef and she worked as a senior receptionist.
“The hotel has been holding raffles for me,” she says. “It’s very kind and I’m so grateful to everyone who has supported me so far. I just want to keep going. The days are hard. I have good weeks and bad weeks, every week is different.
“I would love to not have cancer, of course, but if I have to live with it to see my daughter then so be it.”
The appeal is at https://www. gofundme.com/f/sophie-get-theprivate-treatment-she-needs
❝❝ I’m so grateful to everyone who has supported me so far. I just want to keep going
»» A MOTORCYCLIST under the influence of ketamine and cocaine caused mayhem speeding around Torquay town centre, a court heard.
Daylan Corrigan was seen on CCTV riding down Union Street, weaving in and out traffic, on the phone and without a helmet.
He got into an argument with a woman and a man near the Clock Tower – at one point leaving his bike on the floor in the road. He was eventually arrested after being tackled by a Fleet Walk security guard.
Corrigan, from Paignton, has a history of motoring offences. In 2002, he was jailed for joyriding in a bus. The 27-year-old appeared at Exeter Crown Court to be sentenced after admitting dangerous driving. He was jailed for 10 months.