A mum who needs a life-saving course of cancer medication within days is still £18,000 short of her target.
The chemotherapy drug, which is not available on the NHS, is Tanya Pepper’s greatest hope of staying alive for her husband and two children.
Tanya, 44, has had one course of nelarabine by using us family savings, but in order to raise £29,986 needed for a second course of the medicine, they have resorted to asking for help through a fundraising appeal.
Tanya Pepper has a rare type of blood cancer
So far £10,779 has been pledged by friends and complete strangers who have responded to their plea for support.
Ideally Tanya needs the second course this month and the clock is ticking.
Without treatment doctors have said she is likely to die in a matter of weeks. The chemo she is receiving on the NHS is helping to keep the cancer in check, but nelarabine teamed with her second bone marrow transplant could cure her.
Tanya Pepper, front right, with husband David and children Mary, 15, and Andrew, 17
The Pepper family live in Southfields, Bourne, and Tanya is supported by her husband, David, an agricultural consultant who has stepped back from work to help look after her.
Their children, Andrew, 17, and Mary, 15, attend Bourne Grammar School.
Tanya describes her family as “my strength and motivation” and says leaving her children behind before they reach adulthood is unimaginable.
She was diagnosed with a form of T-cell lymphoma three years ago and has undergone other forms of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, which they thought had saved her.
Tanya Pepper says her children and husband give her the strength to keep fighting for life
But in August last year she was told the cancer had invaded her spine and brain, and that the NHS had no further treatments beyond palliative care.
Nelarabine is used overseas and has been used by the NHS, although it is not available in Tanya’s circumstances under Nice guidelines. It can be administered privately.
Tanya received the first course of the drug on December 17. Once she has another, she should know if the drug has worked.
Tanya Pepper, front right, with husband David and children Mary, 15, and Andrew, 17
The fundraising page can be found at https://tinyurl.com/TanyaPepper
The couple have said they have been overwhelmed by people’s support.