Lancaster couple's desperate bid to raise £100k to prolong young mum's life

Una Zhang was told she had inoperable stage four stomach cancer last August, and was given just months to live.

She and her husband Henry He are now hoping to prolong Una's life by privately funding the cancer drug Ramucirumab, which is not available on the NHS.

They need to raise £110,000 to cover treatment using Ramucirumab, a novel targeted therapy recommended by Christie’s Hospital, and have already raised more than £53,000.

The couple, who moved to Lancaster from Hunan Province in China in 2014 so that Henry could take up a job as an accounting and finance lecturer at Lancaster University, have three daughters, Anya, seven, Bella, five, and two-year-old Leila.

Henry, whose Chinese name is Shaohua, said: "We will never forget the day when the doctor told us that she has cancer, and it is in the last stage with no operation to cure it.

"We were told that there might be only several months left. It is hard to imagine how great the shock was for us. We immediately fell into an ocean of hopelessness and a rain of tears.

"As a sincere Christian, Una is not afraid of death. At the same time, she is very young, only 33, and loves her husband and her three girls so much that she cannot give up.

"When I first met her, she said to me that she didn’t like medicine and always refused to have any medicine when she caught a cold or had a small health issue.

"However, now she can swallow tens of tablets every day and bear the strong side effects of chemotherapy.

"Though she tried very hard, the first line of chemotherapy did not work for her. Now she is doing the second line of chemotherapy. She managed to bear the side effects.

"Her doctor at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary told us that Una will run out of options if the second line of chemotherapy does not work. However, we believe God is with us and will give more time to Una.

"I, as her husband, just cannot stop searching for all the possible treatments for her. One of the treatment options is Ramucirumab, a novel targeted therapy recommended by our Christie oncology specialist, a senior professor.

"Unfortunately, it is not available on the NHS, and it is not cheap. Ramucirumab costs around £8,000-£14,000 per cycle, and Una would need six to eight cycles in total. The total estimated cost is about £110,000.

"The professor at Christie also recommended another treatment called LONSURF treatment, another type of chemotherapy. Again, it is not available on the NHS.

"The estimated cost of the whole circle of LONSURF treatment is about £10,000. The good news about Ramucirumab is that there are cases reported with long-term survival due to successful Ramucirumab and Paclitaxel therapy.

"It is a frightening amount but any contribution big or small would be a huge help and incredibly appreciated."

Una has not seen her parents for nearly three years and is desperate to see them before her illness progresses further.

Henry said: "China is always the best thing in our lives. We have our big family reunion there once a year. It is very hard for me to imagine travelling without her.

"Our girls always look forward to travelling to China. However, due to various reasons, we haven’t met our large, extended family since August 2018.

"Una’s parents greatly look forward to seeing her, but they might not be able to see a healthy daughter; they may not be able to see her again. I know this reality is so cruel and will hurt them so much, but I am powerless to change this.

"Sometimes, Una told me that she feels hopeless. I told her that she is very important to God, to the girls, and to me. Her daughters always talk about their birthdays, and they want their mom to be there.

"I tell Una, 'If you can give them one more birthday, it will make a big difference to them. If you can have two more years, you can give them two more birthdays. You mean the whole world to them.'"

Any money remaining and not needed for treatment would be used for other treatments available at Christie's, treatments in China and charities such as St John's Hospice and The Christie Hospital.

You can donate to the cause through the family's JustGiving page here or university staff can also donate internally here.