A 57-year-old cancer patient from Worsley is seeking £50,000 in donations to help fly her to Germany for life-saving treatment.
Grandmother of three June Thompson was diagnosed two years ago with inoperable HER2+ breast cancer.
Despite undergoing chemotherapy at The Christie Hospital in Manchester, June has been told by doctors there is nothing else that can be done.
A large tumour rests on June’s axilla vein under her armpit which could rupture under surgery.
It means surgeons are unable to operate and remove the aggressive cancer.
June, who adores her three young grandchildren – Evelyn, 2, Hallie, born in February and George, born in May – wants to see them flourish like any devoted grandparent.
There are possible treatments but they won’t be available in the UK until around 2020.
“I don’t have that time to waste,” says June.
Instead, she must travel over 750 miles to reach the private Hallwang Oncology Clinic near Stuttgart where doctors can perform tests to establish her best course of treatment.
Local restaurant George’s Worsley tweeted a picture of June with Ryan Giggs this week to add their support, saying: “June Thompson is a #GeorgesWorsley regular & she now needs our help! Lets get her to 50k ❤️”
June’s gruelling journey started 20 years ago when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer at just 36.
“At that time, I had two young daughters age 8 and 10 so I certainly wasn’t going to give up, and thankfully I overcame the odds in 1995.
“Unfortunately in March 2014 I found a lump in my breast.
“I thought I had dealt with it, so when it came back it was a massive shock.”
While surgery managed to remove the lump “what happened next felt like a never-ending nightmare”, she says.
June was told she had an aggressive breast cancer, HER2+, which had spread.
“I was told that, during the surgery, a tumour was found attached to the axilla vein which could not be removed as if the vein was damaged in anyway I would bleed to death.
“The treatments that I am on – Herceptin, Pertuzumav and Taxol – only work for a limited period of time because the cancer is very, very intelligent and it adapts to the treatments.
“It finds ways around to signal to [cancer] cells in your body to start growing again.”
June is taking every day as it comes, but doesn’t know how long she has left.
I have got a prognosis but I don’t know it, because I don’t want to know it, she explained. If they tell me I have another two years left, or another 12-months, it would be a number in my mind and that’s no good for me.
“Side effects of the powerful cancer drugs include developing osteoporosis, or brittle bones, in her spine and hip, increasing the risk of breaks.
“The treatments completely zap your energy and I ache from head to toe.
“And I know it sounds horrible, but all my nails are coming away from the nail-beds.”
But if I didn’t have the drugs then the cancer would be progressing and I wouldn’t be here, so I’ve got to be thankful I am on a treatment that is stabilising the cancer.
June’s histology results, taken from Wythenshaw Hospital’s pathology lab, would be sent to Germany so that doctors could run tests and work out treatment options.
“The Hallwang Clinic are so much more advanced however they are very costly,” she said.
“I now have three beautiful grandchildren and I want to watch them grow up and be the best ‘Ninny’ I can be for them.
“I’m totally optimistic, I’m a very positive person; to get through cancer, you need to have that kind of mindset.
To help June reach the care of medical professionals in Germany go to her GoFundMe page
Main image: June with grandchildren Hallie, Evelyn and George
