A Sutton-in-Ashfield mum is bravely fighting to prolong her life after being told her cancer is terminal.
On March 3 Rachel Lucas, 44, was given the devastating news she has stage four lung cancer.
With her traditional NHS treatment options exhausted, she is now searching for new hope overseas or in the private sector that could give her more time with her two sons, George, eight, and Milo, seven.
“They told me it was cancer and that there was ‘nothing more they could do for me’,” said Rachel, an art and design teacher at Quarrydale Academy in Sutton.
“That was in March and since then I’ve been pretty much on my own trying to find out what I’m doing next and what can be done to help me in this country and abroad.
“When it came to telling the boys, it’s a conversation that no mother ever expects to have – it was the most horrific time of my life. I was putting it off, and I knew I had to tell them in the summer holidays, just so I would be there with them the next morning.
“To say you have got cancer and the odds are stacked against you, it’s horrific.
“Obviously everyone dies, but I’m trying to prevent it as much as possible.
“I know I can do this – I’m not leaving them.”
Single parent Rachel is now running a campaign to raise £60,000 for a form of immunotherapy she believes could buy her more time.
