An Irish mum was left stunned after she received a shock cancer diagnosis in 2016 despite having no symptoms.
After going in for a routine check up, the doctor noticed something abnormal in Laura Swan's blood tests and sent her for an ultrasound.
However, the Cork native was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in her bile duct, and given up to a year to live.
Now almost six years on, mum-of-three Laura is still here and fighting for more time.
She told RSVP Live: "The GP phoned to say, I need to send you for an ultrasound. I thought at the time that maybe it was gallstones or something.
"When the ultrasound was done, the radiographer told me there was a tumour in my liver."
After scans and biopsies, Laura was eventually diagnosed with an incurable cancer, Cholangiocarcinoma.
"The surgeon basically said, I'm terribly sorry but there's absolutely nothing we can do," said Laura. "It was inoperable.
"I was 45 at the time, and I asked how long I'll be living and he said that in his opinion it was about eight months to a year."
Laura has since undergone 200 infusions of chemotherapy, which resulted in some extremely difficult side effects but managed to lengthen her life. However, chemotherapy is now no longer an option for her.
"My body just can't take anymore chemo," she explained. "My platelets haven't recovered and my bone marrow is too saturated."
Laura is now looking into an alternative treatment.
It is a targeted therapy specifically for a rare mutation IDH1 that Laura has in her tumours.
The FDA approved it last August to treat IDH1 positive Cholangiocarcinoma patients and is showing remarkable results with stabilising and inhibiting the growth and spread of the stubborn tumours.
Laura's oncologist has been trying to get it for her on compassionate grounds but to no avail, as it isn’t yet approved in Europe, so the only way to get it is to buy it.
This drug costs over €14,000 per month, and Laura will have to take it for a minimum of six months and then get a scan to report on its effectiveness.
This is a massive amount of money, so Laura has set up a fundraiser. You can donate here.
