Kind-hearted donors have helped a Chester mum battling cancer smash her £50,000 fundraising target for specialist treatment to save her life.
For the last few weeks, Nicola Hitchen of Vicars Cross has been undergoing chemotherapy at a pioneering centre in Turkey – just four months after doctors in the UK told her there was nothing they could do to treat her stage four cervical cancer.
The 41-year-old's devastated parents helped her fund the initial £8,000 treatment, which miraculously shrank a number of tumours after just five 10-day sessions, but money ran out before Nicola, mum to 14-year-old Joe and 12-year-old Jake, could complete any more sessions.
It was then that Nicola's former husband Andy's new wife Clare stepped in to set up a crowdfunding page to raise another £50,000 – and thanks to the generosity of people across the world, the target was smashed in a short space of time.
The family has now extended the target to £100,000 in order to cover extra costs which Clare says aren't always taken into consideration.
Writing on Nicola's JustGiving page , Clare said: "We are so amazed at how quickly our target was smashed! This will cover Niki's next step in her journey to beat this and for that we cannot find the words to tell you just how thankful we are.
"We will carry on though as there are always extras which aren’t taken into consideration – a blood transfusion costs £2,000 and yesterday Niki had to have three.
"There will be maintenance and aftercare too. We will continue to fundraise and share our page as we want to ensure that Niki will have the funds to get through this and be well again," she added.
Clare previously told The Chronicle: ""Niki and I weren't always close – we had a normal ex wife/current wife relationship where we mainly talked about the children and I never really saw Nicola much as it would be Andy picking up the boys.
"But when I heard she had cancer it was heartbreaking and I couldn't imagine how I would feel if I were in her position. As a mother I'd worry so much about my children and what it would be like for them growing up without me so this really touched me and I really wanted to help.
"I could do nothing, or I could do something. And this has brought us closer – we now text reguarly. I keep thinking of things I can do to help, and how I can raise more money."
And Niki's family wrote in a message on her page: “The news headlines often make you despair about the human race but around the world you have all proved that goodness still reigns in abundance.
"Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your good wishes and your generous donations."
A fundraising event will be held for Nicola at Boughton Hall Cricket Club on December 1, for which donors and local businesses have clubbed together to donate prizes. There will be a disco, live music and entertainment by a cross dressing act. To find out more visit @nikistreatmentfund on Facebook.
