Streetly woman 'overwhelmed' as £50k raised for cancer treatment

A grandmother has said she feels "overwhelmed" after more than £50,000 was raised to allow her to undergo pioneering cancer treatment.

Carol Player's sons Adam and Alex have led a fundraising drive for private care after her NHS clinical trial was halted due to the pandemic.

The 57-year-old, who learnt her eye cancer had spread last year, said she was fighting for "a chance to live".

The government said cancelling trials was based on local clinical decisions.

Five years ago, Mrs Player, of Streetly, in the West Midlands, was diagnosed with ocular melanoma and had her right eye removed the following morning.

Adam Player said they all "struggled" to come to terms with it, but she was "courageous" and her six-monthly scans and tests were clear.

However, last November she was told the cancer had spread to her liver. Despite an operation, a follow-up scan found further spots.

Hopes of a pioneering treatment on the NHS - chemosaturation, using the drug melphalan - at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Wirral were dashed when the trial was halted due to the pandemic.

Mrs Player said: "I was in tears I thought my life was over. I said 'how are we going to afford this?' I said to my friend 'it's game over' but she said 'Carol we will raise that money'."

She said family and friends had come to the rescue, raising money through raffles and sponsored events.

"One friend ran 100 miles on her own," said Mrs Player, another family member shaved her head at an event, which made more than £3,800.

"I was just really taken aback that someone would lose their hair for me - but these are desperate times," she said.

"I have had a phenomenal amount of support, including so much support from strangers I don't even know."

Mrs Player, a hairdresser and former bank worker, also cashed in her pension to pay about £40,000 for the first of potentially four treatments at a private hospital in July.

She said she wanted to be around to watch her grandsons grow up and was "not ready to go anywhere".

She said her experience showed cancer patients were "being overlooked" during the pandemic.

"There's a lot going on with Covid but we all deserve the chance to live, we need the same chance to live," she said.

Cancer Research UK said "major disruption to cancer care caused by the pandemic" had led to additional stress and anxiety for patients.

"It's completely understandable that people look to any means when they are in extremely difficult situations and concerningly, we're starting to hear more stories of patients resorting to paying for cancer treatment," Emlyn Samuel, the charity's head of policy said.

The Department of Health and Social Care said: "While urgent research to support the government's coronavirus response has been prioritised, almost three-quarters of non-Covid related study sites are open or proceeding as normal."

A spokesman added resuming or cancelling trials was based on local clinical decisions based on "risk and capacity assessments".

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