Donations flood in to help nurse with terminal cancer

‘There is nothing more painful; it’s like limpets that gnaw away until there’s nothing left’

A nurse left facing a death sentence after failings in her medical care has won huge support from the public to make her final days more comfortable.

Debra Westwick, from Canterbury, has terminal cancer and just months left to live.

In 2013, her case hit the headlines when two hospital trusts were criticised for her inadequate care, resulting in a doctor being struck off.

Four years on, she is now bedbound and dealing with the devastating effects of the disease, which has spread to her bones.

In an attempt to make her last days more bearable, her friend Jo Loveridge launched a fundraising campaign to buy her a new mattress and within minutes donations began pouring in from well-wishers – with £700 raised in just six hours. The fund has now exceeded £1,200.

Miss Westwick, 54, said that the greatest thing is the kindness she has seen from strangers.

“People who don’t know me have donated,” she said.

“I’m just so overwhelmed that there are so many kind people out there.”

Her son James, who is training to be a doctor, says the new mattress will help stop the bed sores which have started forming.

“Mum’s cancer has spread to her bones,” he said.

“There is nothing more painful; it’s like limpets that gnaw away until there’s nothing left.

“She can’t walk properly, so she spends most of her time in bed because the pain gets so bad. She can’t get downstairs so her bedroom has become the lounge.”

James, 24, who is due to start as a junior doctor at the Kent & Canterbury Hospital – where Miss Westwick worked as a nurse – says his mum has been facing death for the past four years after she was told the breast cancer, first diagnosed 10 years ago, had spread.

It followed a battle with two hospital trusts – East Kent, and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells – over inappropriate treatment which resulted in an investigation and Dr Howard Smedley, who was employed by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, being struck off.

The Health Service Ombudsmen said there had been a “significant injustice” after it emerged Miss Westwick had been prescribed chemotherapy and radiotherapy during consultations at Kent and Canterbury Hospital, instead of the recommended mastectomy.

James, who is studying at St George’s University of London, says his mum is in the position she is today because of the inadequate care.

“Had things gone well with her initial treatment this wouldn’t have happened,” he said. “As a result of that, she’s dying.

“It’s spread to her brain too. It can drive you mad but you can’t let it.”

James, who juggles his time between London and the family home in Church Hill, Harbledown, says they have also won the support of Derren Brown.

Miss Westwick met the illusionist before a show at The Marlowe and just days later he spent the afternoon at her home and still visits when in the area.

She also wrote a chapter for his book Happy about what it is like facing death.

To donate visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/a-new-mattressfor-debbie

James Westwick-paine with his mum Debbie and Derren Brown