Highlands mother who refunded more than £ 320k for cancer treatment dies
A mother- of- two who refunded thousands of pounds raised to help her get cancer treatment has died.
Roz Pa t e r s o n , who was 5 2 a n d l i v i n g i n B e a u l y, near Inverness, had raised £ 320,000 of her £ 500,000 target after being told she may only have weeks to live.
Originally from Glasgow, Mrs Paterson wanted to travel to the US for Car- T Cell therapy because her cancer was resistant to chemotherapy.
She refunded the donations after being offered treatment in the UK.
T h e mo n e y wa s r a i s e d through an online crowdfunding campaign and fundraising events.
Scots actress and director Karen Gillan was among the many people who backed Ms Paterson’s campaign.
Her l o c al c ommunit y i n B eauly r al l i ed behind her a n d r a i s e d t h o u s a n d s o f pounds through fundraising events.
Mrs Paterson, who star ted the NHS Scotland- funded treatment at London’s Kings College Hospital in March, died at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness on Monday.
Her family are holding a celebration of her life next week, with donations going to Macmillan Cancer Support and Maggie’s Highlands.
Mrs Paterson, a j ournalist who worked for the Daily Record and latterly wrote for Scottish Socialist Voice, also penned a blog entitled ‘ A Life More Or Less Ordinary’ about her cancer.
Her final post, “We called i t T h e R o l l e r c o a s t e r ” , announced Mrs Paterson’s d e a t h , s a y i n g : “Mo n d a y morning, six thirty. Roz has died.”
Husband Malcolm Mcdonald, 62, wrote: “Roz’s blog has touched a lot of people. Elegant and frank, threaded through with her signature self- effacing humour, Roz’s posts eloquently told the story of one woman’s battle with cancer.
“And I think, you know, you read her blog and felt like you had got to know her. You had got to really like the way she told her story.
“You thought she was this wickedly funny, insightful, clever, strong, kind, i nspirational, brave woman. You could see the beauty in her, the steel, the fire. Well, you know what? You were right.” Mrs Paterson was first diagnosed with lymphoma cancer last summer.
She had initially been told by NHS Scotland the treatment she wanted was unavailable in Scotland and that she was ineligible for funding to travel south.
With help from friends and family, her husband and their children Thea, 13, and David, ten, Mrs Paterson began a funding drive to raise the cash needed f or her t reatment, which uses a medicine called Kymriah at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital.
After being t old t hat she would be able to get the treatment in the UK, the crowdf u n d i n g d o n a t i o n s we r e refunded.