A young mum has been told the devastating news that her cancer has spread and that she needs to make "final memories" with her children.
Amie Walton's story touched the hearts of readers when her friends launched a fundraising appeal after she said 'I just want to stay with my babies'.
Initially thinking that she had heartburn the mum-of-two from Sutton Coldfield, 30, had been diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer that had spread to her liver, Birmingham Live reports.
Readers of her story helped her to raise £20,000 in just 24 hours, enabling her to undergo SIRT radiotherapy privately. It was so successful, that her friends helped her to raise further funds for a second round.
Having recently celebrated her 30th birthday, Amie's health has sadly taken a turn for the worse and she has been told the heartbreaking news that her cancer has spread, adding 50 tumours to each lung.
Currently in hospital, Amie is also battling neutropenic sepsis, a whole-body reaction to an infection. It's a severe condition that can be life-threatening.
Amie's life can be prolonged with palliative chemotherapy but it will cost £2,000 a month. So Amie's Army of fundraisers has launched a new GoFundMe page and is appealing for donations one last time to give her as many months as possible with her children Harry and Mia, who are just eight and six.
"We don't know how long Amie has left with us in this world, but together, we can do whatever it takes to give her as much time as we can to shine bright like she always does and make those final memories with those she loves and more importantly with her beloved children who adore her more than anything," said her best friend Jess Davies.
"I ask, please, do and give whatever you can to help us raise this money so that Amie can have precious time with us all, especially Harry and Mia."
Palliative treatment is typically used to improve quality of life when no cure is available. Following Amie's initial diagnosis in September 2020, she underwent chemotherapy and had 60 percent of her liver removed but sadly, the cancer returned and her liver is now riddled with tumours.
Just before Halloween 2021, Amie was given the heart-breaking news that the cancer had travelled to her lungs, was terminal, and there was nothing more doctors could do. In a race against time, Amie's fiance Chris Mills, her friends and family raised £70,000 for private Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT) in a bid to enable her to watch her children grow up.
"Everything was going pretty well, apart from her feeling poorly from the chemo and we had high hopes," said Jess. "After all, if anyone were going to beat this, it would be this superwoman.
"As the months went by, a few operations down, the oncologist gave us the shattering news that the chemotherapy wasn't working and her liver was worsening. We tried all sorts of research, seeing if there were anyone abroad that could help, second and third opinions, you name it.
"Luckily it led us to a treatment called SIRT. Unfortunately, SIRT (Selective Internal Radiotherapy Treatment) isn't available on the NHS, so we were assured that if we could raise funds (£35,000), Amie would be eligible to have this private treatment.
"This would give her a vast fighting chance and Amie was lucky enough that she could have not one but two rounds of SIRT as we raised funds within weeks, thanks to shares on social media, donations, publicity from the press and hard work from everyone involved."
Although the SIRT worked well, it only has a 'shelf life' of around six months, and Amie was hoping to have a liver resection in that time - the removal of part of the liver in the hope it will grow back healthily. But, while recovering from her treatment, the cancer spread, adding 50 tumours to each lung.
"Amie has been in and out of hospital for a month and is still there now battling neutropenic sepsis," said Jess. "Amongst all this, Amie has now been given the devastating news, regardless of everyone's efforts, that there is nothing more that can be done as chemotherapy is no longer working and the cancer is extremely aggressive.
"Amie's life can be prolonged with palliative chemo, but it will cost £2,000 a month. I am begging the public, for one last push, to help me find the funds so that we can give her as many months as possible with her children Harry and Mia, her fiance, her parents, siblings, family, friends and all those who have been invested in this gruelling journey."
"Amie is the most incredible mother and the fact that she is being stripped of watching her children grow up is heart-breaking," added Jess.
"She isn't giving up and neither are we! If I had any advice to you and you find yourself in this situation, do whatever it takes for those you love. Be kind, love unconditionally and tell people how much you care. Tomorrow isn’t promised, but you can make today count! Hold those you love a little closer tonight."
The target is £12,000 for six months worth of treatment and more than £1,600 has been raised already. Jess is appealing for people to keep donating here.
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