Mum had to tell teenage daughter that she only had 15 months to live

08 May 2023 , 11:58

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Hannah was diagnosed with a brain tumour at just 18 (Image: Gail Iredale)

A heartbroken mum had to tell her teenage daughter she only has just over a year to live following a devastating diagnosis.

Hannah Roberts was just 18 when doctors found she had a brain tumour.

She'd been suffering from a number of symptoms, such as headaches, nose bleeds and strange sensations down one side of her body, before the heartbreaking truth came out.

While the tumour was removed within five days of it being found, further tests turned the family's world upside down.

Mum Gail Iredale said in September 2022, she found out Hannah, then 19, was suffering from a rare form of glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive and fastest-growing types of brain cancer.

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Gail said: "The entire time I was sat there not really listening to what the doctor was saying, I was just thinking how do I tell my daughter that she has got brain cancer and she has only got 15 months to live."

Hannah's symptoms included nose bleeds and headaches (Gail Iredale)

While the tumour was removed within five days of it being found, further tests turned the family's world upside down (Gail Iredale)

JCB apprentice Hannah, now 20, started palliative radiotherapy and chemotherapy, suffering the harsh and unforgiving side effects of the treatments, DerbyshireLive reports.

As well as the palliative care, Hannah was also temporarily put on steroids for a period that gave her Cushing's disease and saw her gain a large amount of weight.

Despite suffering hair loss, hour-long seizures, and severe fluctuations in her weight, Hannah has taken everything in her stride. Her mum has said she is the "bravest person in the whole world" and never moans despite everything that life has thrown at her.

Although scans have shown a reduction in her cancer, a trait of glioblastoma is that it keeps growing again and again. Roughly one per cent of people with glioblastoma survive 10 years after their diagnosis.

This crushing statistic has not stopped Gail from looking for ways to help her daughter.

She said: "I had been staring at baby photos of her (Hannah) before she looked the way she does now, thinking how am I going to carry on without her in my life.

"There is no way that I can continue my life without her in it. I can either sit and bawl and cry and wish that things were different or I can get off my **** and do something about it."

At the moment Gail, from Derby, is talking to a dendritic cell vaccine company (DC Vax) based in Spain as a possible way to help Hannah.

As well as the palliative care, Hannah was also temporarily put on steroids for a period that gave her Cushing's disease (Gail Iredale)

Hannah's family and friends are trying to raise £50,000 for treatment that could save her life (Gail Iredale)

Gail added: "The form of immunotherapy is used by taking Hannah's blood and creating a vaccine with it to identify the glioblastoma as cancer, because there is something in her immune system that isn't identifying that it is cancer."

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The revolutionary medical development is not yet available via the NHS and costs around £50,000 per round of treatment. A confidential donor has paid for Hannah's first round of treatment but this won't be enough.

Gail and Hannah's family and friends have worked tirelessly to try and raise funds for more treatments, starting four weeks ago and so far having raised £16,000.

A big part of the money raised has come from Hannah's school friend Molly Coxon, 20, who has worked day and night to raise over £4,500 via raffles and has even secured a signed Derby County football to raise funds.

The community has rallied around Gail and Hannah too, with two local landscape companies working through the bank holiday weekend to do up Gail's garden so Hannah has a nice place to spend what could be her last summer.

After hearing about Hannah's story the companies, Regal Garden Design Landscapes and BBL Fencing and Paving, both told Gail that the work would be done for free.

"We would love to do quite an event, I have a DJ, car simulators, and a comedian who is offering to perform. We’d love for any businesses that are able to offer a venue for Hannah Fest to get in touch or any that can offer auction items for the night too."

Joseph Ash