A SINGLE mum-of-two diagnosed with inoperable cancer has said she has been overwhelmed by the support of friends who have raised £7,000 in two weeks for her to go to Germany for alternative treatments.

Caroline Bader, of Benbow Road, Newport, was found to have a tumour in her spine and cancer cells in her liver back in November.

The 49-year-old, who also suffered from breast cancer in 2012 and went through a mastectomy in April 2013, has been told her latest cancer is inoperable.

“They can’t operate me because what I have in my liver is cancer cells, not a tumour,” she said.

“The tumour in my spine is actually part of it – but if they took it away, my spine would collapse.”

Over the past couple of weeks, her friends have raised £7,000 for her to travel a clinic in Germany and undergo alternative treatments though.

Ms Bader says that both Hallwang Private Oncology Clinic, in Hallwangen, or the Hufeland Klinik, in Bad Mergentheim, integrate alternative therapies (such as vitamin C infusions and detox) with chemotherapy, and other experimental treatments, like immunotherapy, not available on the NHS.

“I imagine I will need up to six weeks of treatment, which would be £35,000,” she said.

“I may have to re-mortgage my house. I have to be practical, my children need me more than the house.

“On the face it, my two daughters are doing amazing – but God knows what goes through their heads.”

Ms Bader, who has two daughters aged 15 and 20, said is taking every day as it comes.

“I have never felt so tired in my life, I could be talking to you and I would fall asleep,” she added.

“I have no idea whether it is the cancer or the chemotherapy.

“Today is a good day, but then there are days like yesterday when I couldn’t move. I couldn’t get up to make a cup of tea for my cousin, I couldn’t hold her baby.

“When I went through the breast cancer, I felt fine, I wasn’t ill. This is very different, which is scary.”

Ms Bader, who works as a legal executive but has been off since the end of November, has been given twelve months to live in the worst case scenario. Her best case scenario, she has been told, is a further five years.

She has also been told she needs to have 18 weeks of chemotherapy, finishing in May. She is hoping to have enough money to go to Germany by then.

“I try to be positive, but I worry about a lot of things,” she said. “I worry about my 15-year-old daughter and about when I will be able to go back to work.

“My friends have been amazing though.

“It is not just raising the money, they come here every day. I am so blessed.

“They have raised more than £7,000 already, in just two weeks. It is so humbling, it makes me emotional when I think about it.”

Andrea Abdie, one of Ms Bader’s closest friends, who set up the justgiving page, said: “She is my friend and I love her, I just want her to get better. She is like my sister, I will do anything I can to help her.”

A fundraiser for Ms Bader will be held this Saturday, at Caerwent’s Village Hall, from 10am to 11.30am. There will be bouncy castles, and homemade cakes. The event is open to anyone.

To donate, visit justgiving.com/crowdfunding/andrea-abdie