Bride-to-be, 27, facing cancer for THIRD time in desperate race against time to raise money for experimental drug
Hope Stringer was told by doctors in NYC that chemo was her only hope. She's hoping that there's one more alternative left
ALL cancer patient Hope Stringer wanted for Christmas was the chance of a healthy future.
Yet her dreams were dashed over the New Year, after flying to New York in the hope of receiving pioneering treatment - only to be turned away.
Hope was first diagnosed with a rare form of soft tissue sarcoma in 2014. And after years of operations, chemo and radiotherapy, she went for a scan just before Christmas hoping to be told she was in remission.
But there was bad news, the 27-year-old's cancer was back for a third time - and it had spread to her lungs and lymph nodes.
Doctors here said chemo was all they could offer and so fearing they had run out of options, Hope's family raised more than £100,000 in a matter of days after sharing her story with The Sun - and flew to the US on New Year's Eve in search of a second opinion.
The 27-year-old and partner Sean cancelled their wedding - having got engaged shortly before her latest diagnosis - to focus all their efforts on Hope's treatment.
Pinning everything on pioneering immunotherapy not offered in the UK, the family were devastated when doctors in New York said all they could offer Hope was more chemotherapy.
Chemo didn't work before, and Hope's family fear it won't again.
Yet, they are refusing to give up on her and in a last-ditch attempt to get rid of her sarcoma for good, they're now trying to raise more money to fly the 27-year-old over to Santa Monica in California to take part in the trial of an experimental, new drug.
After having an operation to remove it, Hope had to endure six months of chemo and 30 sessions of radiotherapy.
Just as that was all done, she developed a new tumour in exactly the same place so had to go through the whole process all over again.
The gym enthusiast, who lives with her fiance in Billericay, Essex, was due to celebrate three years in remission when she went for a routine scan.
It was then that she received the devastating news that the cancer was back - and this time, it’s spread to her lungs and lymph nodes.
Due to get married next summer, she's had to cancel her wedding plans.
Nancy doesn't know how much it'll cost to get Hope Rexin G but she told us that she thinks it'll be a "ridiculous amount of money".
One study of the drug claimed that it managed to save five patients' lives - one of whom had the same cancer as Hope.
"It’s given us a bit of hope," said Nancy.
"We just need a way to get the drug manufactured because it’s frustrating that it's just sitting there and will work but we’re not able to use it."
Symptoms of soft tissue sarcomas
Around half of soft tissue sarcomas start in an arm of leg - but as in Hope's case, you can develop them and have no signs at all.
It's much more rare for sarcomas to start in the chest, head or neck, while just under half of cases start in the belly.
Signs can include:
- A new lump or a lump that's growing (anywhere on your body)
- Abdominal pain that's getting worse
- Blood in your stool or vomit
- Black, tarry stools (when bleeding happens in the stomach or bowels, the blood can turn black as it's digested, and it might make the stool very black and sticky)
Initially, Hope's family had hoped to get her immunotherapy in America, but doctors rejected the suggestion when they visited New York last week.
In the UK, the former city broker has just been offered chemo, which she's already tried a number of times.
Hope told The Sun: “It’s devastating to only be offered chemo again - it’s a lot more scary that that’s my only option here.
"That doesn’t fill me with much optimism which is why we’re doing all this fundraising so we can have the chance to talk to someone who might have more options."
Hope agreed to go back on chemo if her tumours had been found to continue growing over the month since her last checkup, but so far, they're stable.
Nancy explained: "We made a decision that if her tumours hadn’t grown in the whole month since her original diagnosis, then we’d put the chemo on hold until we found something better.
"She’s put her chemo on hold until the February 14 to buy us some time to potentially do something else.
The doctors have said that because the tumours haven't grown, we're fine to wait. But ultimately, their approach is just to keep her alive and do the chemo - despite the fact that they know chemo won’t work - so I’m not sure why we would put her through it.
"It takes a massive physical toll on people - I think we should be looking at alternative options like this rather than putting her through hell."
Since launching their fundraising campaign, the family have managed to raise well over £100,000 - but they fear it will be a drop in the ocean, with the new drug expected to be very expensive.
"Over Christmas, we had loads of donations come in which was really nice and we’ve got loads of people doing stuff - a lady we know is running the London Marathon for us, our little cousin is arranging a charity football day," said Nancy.
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