THE family of a gran-of-seven who is fighting a stage four brain tumour is hosting a casino night to raise funds for life changing treatment.
Karen Rigby, from Carr Mill, was concerned in 2015 when she was smelling burning for no reason, suffering instances of déjà vu and have mini seizures.
She was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour which she got removed with no further treatment needed.
However, in December 2020 she had another operation after learning another brain tumour had returned. In January 2021 this one was discovered to be a Stage four glioblastoma unmethylated.
Glioblastomas are grade 4 brain tumours. They’re fast-growing, diffuse – meaning they have threadlike tendrils that extend into other parts of the brain, are likely to spread within the brain and may come back even if intensively treated.
The mum-of-two, who works at Fairfield Hospital, has undergone all available rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but the unmethylated part of her diagnosis means her type of tumour is unlikely to react well to those kinds of treatments.
Karen, 60, is now accessing alternative treatments not available on the NHS, with the latest costing £7,000 each go. Therefore her children Alex and Lorraine are now looking to the public to help.
Lorraine said: “Mum was struggling with walking and had to have a bed put downstairs and use a wheelchair and we’ve been researching into different treatments so used money already raised to try one and we’ve seen a big difference where she is walking again.
“These treatments show huge improvements and make a difference to her and us.
“We’ve been having lots of UK trips and used up all our leave to spend time together as a family creating memories and now we want help to do more of that.
“The casino night will be a night of fun, and include a visit by James Roby and other Saints players, with the aim of having fun and raising money for mum’s treatment.
“There are great prizes already on offer, it would be great to have people get involved. It would mean everything to mum and to us.”
The event will take place at The Function Room in St Helens on Saturday, September 30.
To book tickets go to https://bit.ly/KCKcasinonight
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