Dying mum in race against time to raise £200k so she can cuddle her baby again

A new mum who has just months to live is fighting to raise £200,000 for cancer treatment so she can cuddle her baby boy again. Gemma Small, 31, has been left unable to hold her little boy from the gruelling pain of her terminal liver cancer.

The young mum, from Horwich, Bolton, was given the devastating diagnosis just two weeks after giving birth to her son Samuel in February. And doctors predict she could have as little as six months left to live.

The council worker had already beaten a uveal melanoma (eye cancer) in March 2023, when she and partner Cieran Hughes, 34, started trying for a baby. But at a routine MRI scan just two weeks after giving birth, the couple received the news that the cancer had metastasised in her liver.

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Gemma, who also has the incurable auto-immune condition Lupus, is now banking on private cancer treatment to give her more time with her son after NHS doctors said they could not help her. She told the Mail: "I wish I could do more. It makes me upset that I can't and I feel like I'm missing out on time."

Cieran claims NHS doctors told them they can't help Gemma because of her Lupus, which affects her immune system and means she is not strong enough for immunotherapy.

The family have been forced to drain their savings and go to a private hospital in Southampton to give Gemma 'chemosaturation' therapy. The treatment involves cutting the liver off from the rest of the body and intensely targeting the organ with chemotherapy.

It means the side effects are not as bad as regular chemo. But just one round costs up to £50,000 and doctors say Gemma needs at least four rounds. The family have now launched a GoFundMe page to raise the cash in a race against time for Gemma.

Cieran said: "It's not a cheap deal. The last thing any of us wanted to do as a family was to ask for money. "But we kind of realised that this isn't something we could possibly ever, ever accomplish on our own."

He added: "Having to go private is not something we feel comfortable doing, but it’s something we’re going to have to do and ask people to help with," said Cieran. "We just want everyone to know how thankful we are to have their help."

The family have raised enough on the GoFundMe for just one round of treatment. Gemma's mother, teacher Paula Small, 54, added: "It was just grim... It's not what you want for any of your children, is it? And it's not how it should be."