Woman who raised £30,000 to help treat her husband's ex wife's cancer speaks out

'It has really shown that, in this world we live in, there are still so many kind and caring people'

Nicola has been touched by the support from her parents and sons, as well as her ex-husband and his wife (Nicola Hitchen)

A woman raised £30,000 in a fortnight to save her husband's ex-wife from cancer.

Clare Hitchen embarked on a fundraising campaign after doctors told Nicola Hitchen they could treat her state four cervical cancer.

Her appeal on the JustGiving fundraising site has raised £30,000 of its £50,000 target to pay for pioneering chemotherapy treatment in Turkey.

Mother-of-two Nicola, 41, from Chester, has already undergone five 10-day sessions of treatment in Istanbul with remarkable success.

Her aggressive tumour has all but disappeared, secondary tumours have shrunk considerably and one in her lungs has vanished completely.

The treatment has already set Nicola and her family back £80,000.

Clare, the wife of Nicola's ex-husband Andy, raising the £50,000 she needs to complete it.

She said: “Niki, the boys, Niki’s mum Helena and step-dad Bruce along with myself and Andy have been overwhelmed by the love, support and kind messages coming through.

“It has really shown that, in this world we live in, there are still so many kind and caring people who have united in their support to help a loving mother overcome cancer and be there for her children.

“We thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts.”

Four months ago, doctors gave Nicola the devastating news there was nothing they could do to treat her stage four cervical cancer.

After looking into a range of different options, including unproven alternative medicine treatments, the family eventually found a centre called ChemoThemia in Istanbul which combines chemotherapy with heat treatments to break down the tumour.

After she underwent five 10-day sessions at the centre, her aggressive tumour all but disappeared. Secondary tumours also shrank considerably and one in her lungs vanished completely.

She was also placed on a special diet and spent time in an oxygen chamber to help her body heal and recover.

Clare said: “Before her cancer was diagnosed Niki was advised that the excruciating pain she was experiencing was healing from a previous operation.

“It was only when she was admitted to intensive care with sepsis due to an abscess on her cervix that the cancer was diagnosed as stage two and after seven weeks in intensive care it had progressed to stage four at which point the NHS advised Niki that they would be unable to treat her as it was too advanced.

“Niki had been having yearly cervical smear tests and nothing was detected.”

Nicola, who works as a school administrator has been touched by the support from her parents and sons, Joseph, 14, and Jacob, 12, as well as her ex-husband Andy, who recovered from Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, and his wife Clare.

“It's brought us all even closer together,” she said. “The support I've been given has been phenomenal, not just from my family but from complete strangers too. I didn't think people liked me that much.”