Newton Mearns mum fighting stage four cancer in battle against time for life-saving treatment in America

Julie Scott, from Newton Mearns, was told eight weeks ago that the NHS could not offer her a cure and that her treatment would be coming to an end. 

The 43-year-old was first diagnosed with Triple Negative Breast Cancer - considered to be one of the most aggressive forms of the disease - four years ago. 

Her younger sister, Gemma Strickland, has desperately launched an online fundraiser in an effort to keep her family together.

Julie and her husband, Chris

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Gemma said: "You hear about people all the time having cancer but when it happens to you, it is frightening and you don’t know what is going on or what the next step is.

"When we were first told about her cancer when she was diagnosed, I thought, you know, you are young, healthy and fit, you will get through this… we will get through this.

“I didn’t realise the extent of the type of cancer she was diagnosed with.”

Since her diagnosis, the young mum has undergone a series of grueling treatments, including radiotherapy, chemotherapy, a lumpectomy and removal of lymph nodes.

Julie - who also worked in the clinical trials department at the West of Scotland Cancer Centre for 11 years - even received the all-clear in December 2019.

"It was positive news - amazing actually, given how much treatment she had received", said Gemma.

"It was like a massive weight had been lifted from our shoulders.

“Although she was given the all-clear, she signed herself up to a trial that could basically detect cancer cells developing before they mutated into cancer.

“I think because it is quite common for the kind of cancer that she has to return, she signed herself up because if it did, she wanted to catch it as early as she could. She didn’t want to miss it, she knew there was potential for it to be caught sooner."

Just 10 months later, devastating news came that cancer had returned to Julie's breast and spread to her breast bone.

She underwent a further 19 rounds of exhausting chemotherapy sessions in the hope it would shrink the tumor down. 

“The hardest part was that there was an end to this trial, which meant there were no other options so this would be it", said Gemma.

“Eight weeks ago she went for another scan. She was told the cancer had moved to her left lung and liver. That meant she could no longer take part in the next trial.

“It was hard to take in – her kids are only six and nine.”

Determined Julie took the experience from her career at the Beatson and went on to find a medical trial in America that could potentially extend her life. 

But the lengthy procedure will come at a costly price of £90,000. The GoFundMe page set up by Gemma has received donations of more than £32,000 in just one week.

Gemma said: "We will find the money somehow, you can't put a price on life but we are so grateful for the support so far. 

“Since her diagnosis, it’s indescribable how amazing she is. As far as I know, she hasn’t taken a day off work. She is so strong, she decided to carry on working full-time and decided to continue to be an amazing mum to her children.

“I have taken a lot of inspiration from her – she has even kept running the whole way through her treatments.

“We have to believe in this, my main focus is that there are people who survive this in the world. Julie deserves to be one of the survivors.”

The trial, which Julie has been approved for, will see medics remove lymphocytes from her liver and multiply them by millions before putting them back into her body to fight the tumors. 

Donate to the online fundraiser by visiting HERE.