Mum raising cash for treatment
SHE NEEDS £90,000 FOR THERAPY
THE family of a Peterlee mum battling three inoperable brain tumours have launched a campaign to raise £90,000 for potentially life-saving treatment.
Emma Selby first began suffering from dizzy spells, sickness, severe headaches, and a twitchy eye from the summer of 2016.
Doctors put her symptoms down to a sinus infection and labyrinthitis – an inner ear infection which affects your balance.
But with her condition progressively worsening, the mum-of-one returned to hospital in 2017 where she had an MRI scan which would reveal she had tumour called a brain stem glioma.
The 38-year-old said: “I was absolutely devastated and in complete shock. I was feeling quite poorly at this point and remember I was pleased to have a diagnosis, even though it wasn’t a good one.
“My family came over and gave me lots of hugs and we all cried a lot. My sister Claire had asked me to be her bridesmaid before I got poorly, and I didn’t even know if I’d be here to go to her wedding.”
Despite the fact the tumour was inoperable, doctors were confident that radiotherapy could halt its growth.
And they were right, as a scan showed the treatment was working and the tumour had stabilised.
Emma, who has a 14-year-old son called Thomas, said: “I began to feel normal again and tried to get back to life as normal.
“I felt I had my independence and life back. I was also back to the gym after having a year out which felt amazing.
“Scans showed there was no difference in size to the tumour, so it wasn’t growing anymore but it wasn’t shrinking either.”
However, just two years later Emma was given the heartbreaking news that a second tumour had been found during a check-up scan.
Emma’s treatment was due to begin in March, but it was delayed after the country was plunged into lockdown following the outbreak of coronavirus.
The fitness fanatic returned to hospital in May for a scan ahead of her treatment
starting only to devastatingly discover a third more aggressive tumour, a high grade astrocytoma, had been located.
Emma, from Easington, said: “I felt heartbroken, like the unluckiest girl ever, but I tried to carry on as normal and hoped the hospital would give me treatment quickly.
“I was worried in case another lockdown came as I thought treatments would stop again.
“I started a three-month course of chemotherapy. The drug they gave me is supposed to be the best to break through the brain blood barrier.
“I continued at the gym, day trips out and went on a staycation with the family.
“I thought I’m not going to let this beat me, I’m going to fight this.”
But the recycling worker at Durham County Council was dealt a major blow at the start of October with the treatment deemed to have been ineffective.
Emma had a biopsy which she says left her feeling “horrendous” following a build-up of fluid on her brain.
She said: “I felt like my whole ‘fight’ attitude had been sucked right out of me overnight...i’ve just had a hole drilled into my skull to drain the fluid so I’m hoping things will feel better in a couple of weeks.”
With no other options available on the NHS, Emma’s sister Karen Selby, 45, has found a Spanish clinic that is confident if her blood is compatible, they can treat her.
It is hoped she can have immunotherapeutic dendritic cell therapy – a drugfree treatment which extracts the patient’s blood to be medically altered to make it superfighting, before it is re-injected back into the body.
The treatment, which could be carried out by a specialist team in England who have been contracted by the clinic given the ongoing coronavirus travel restrictions, costs around £26,000 per cycle plus £4,500 for the follow-up injections.
It is expected that Emma would need three rounds of treatment.
Karen has set up a Gofundme page in a bid to raise around £90,000 needed to give her sister the best possible chance to save her life.
Emma has been left overwhelmed with more than £9,000 raised in a matter of days which she says has reignited her determination to fight back against her tumours. To donate, go to www. gofundme.com/f/tmzd2-saving-emma
I felt like my whole ‘fight’ attitude had been sucked right out of me overnight
EMMA SELBY