DEVASTATED Nadia Sawalha fought back tears in an emotional video as she shared some heartbreaking news.
Loose Women star Nadia, 60, struggled to contain her emotions while revealing her best friend Hannah Gardner, 37, is in the final stages of her battle with breast cancer.
4
4
4
The TV personality opened up with fans as she asked for help in securing the future of Hannah’s young autistic daughter, Lila Ray.
Speaking in an Instagram video, she said: “Many of you know Hannah. She is the baby of the Fab Four, the group, the Fab Four.
“And though she, I think, is the smartest, wildest – when I say wild, I mean in her courage – that’s what I mean. One out of the four of us.”
Describing Hannah as “the most loyal friend” and “a tireless advocate for other women with breast cancer”, Nadia highlighted her friend’s extraordinary resilience and determination.
read more on Nadia Sawalha
“She trekked the Himalayas. I’ve seen her pull herself up from just having had treatment and drag herself to be on telly or in front of parliament to speak up, to speak up for other women,” she shared.
Despite living with cancer for 12 years, Hannah has always maintained a positive spirit, Nadia explained.
But now, with a diagnosis of stage four incurable breast cancer, her time has been cut short.
Nadia said of her daughter: “Lila is bright, curious, and loving, but her autism means she’ll need lifelong care and support.
“Hannah’s deepest wish is to secure Lila’s future – specialist care, therapy, and a safety net to ease the road ahead.”
The situation has become even more challenging as Hannah’s husband, a firefighter, may have to leave his job to become a full-time carer for Lila.
Nadia pleaded: “Life insurance and long-term plans were out of reach when cancer arrived. So that’s where we can all help.”
She urged people to contribute to Lila’s Your Mummy Loves You Forever Fund, explaining that donations would ensure Hannah’s final wish – her daughter’s security – is fulfilled.
Nadia said: “Your support will give her peace of mind. Knowing that Lila’s future is secure will let Hannah focus on what matters most: creating memories with Lila and surrounding her with love.”
For those unable to donate, Nadia emphasized that simply sharing the message or offering words of support could still make a difference.
She concluded: “Thank you for helping us give Hannah the gift of peace and ensuring Lila feels her mother’s love for years to come.”
Nadia has been leading a desperate effort to raise £150k to fund a legal appeal that could enable the NHS to roll out a game-changing cancer drug.
Thousands of women in England, Wales and Northern Ireland living with secondary breast cancer faced a hammer blow when Enhertu – which is used to treat patients like them in 25 countries including Scotland – was denied for use on the NHS by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) due to its cost.
It’s estimated to be around £10,000 per patient per year in the US where it is available to cancer patients.
Hannah, whom Nadia calls her ‘daughter’, had been on Enhertu as part of a clinical trial that saw her also having to take a more toxic drug as part of its conditions.
The mum-of-one’s tumours had previously responded well to the life-extending medicine, but the delay in getting onto the trial allowed her stage 4 cancer to spread.
In a November interview with The Sun, Nadia explained why the group, which has raised £45,000 towards its target at the time of writing, is having to self-fund lawyers to contest NICE’s decision.
Speaking from her home, she said: “Big Pharma told us that NHS England have been offered it [Enhertu] at the lowest price of anyone else that’s taken Enhertu. And so that’s NICE then, who are in charge of approving.
“I was in the [Royal] Marsden many times with Hannah and them saying, ‘oh, well, it will come through. There’s always a bit of this back and forth and it will come through’.
“You know, it’s an amazing drug. Nothing’s had this reaction since Herceptin, which we know has saved hundreds of thousands of women’s lives.
“So everybody thought it was a dead cert, but what happened is there’s something called a severity modifier; if you imagine, secondary breast cancer was in the column of a severe disease and there was a certain pot of money for that, but they moved it across the column to moderately severe. Now there is no cure for secondary breast cancer.
“So for those women to be told that their disease wasn’t severe and was only moderate and that that pot of money that was over there is now no longer available to buy this drug was just devastating.”
In July, a group of 25 women took to Westminster and proudly stood outside of Parliament with their bare chests painted to raise awareness of the plight.
Sadly, just days before our interview, one of the brave women, Heather, died from her cancer, which goes to show just how crucial time is in this fight.
At the time, Nadia and the Enhertu campaigners had a scheduled meeting with Health Secretary Wes Streeting on October 23 and were hopeful he could have some sway on the battle to equip the NHS with Enhertu.
As the campaign’s most prominent face, Nadia has received countless messages from women sharing their stories.
It’s something she doesn’t take lightly and admits it is giving her great energy to continue the fight to secure the drug.
She said: “I absolutely love it. And the emotions give me enormous energy. That’s what it does. It gives me fire.
“Hannah is my daughter. That’s the way I think of it. That’s the way I’ve always felt about her.
“From the first day I met her, when we were climbing the Himalayas for CoppaFeel!, I felt this unbelievable strength. Her father’s, her father’s Iraqi, her father was Iraqi. Her father died of liver cancer actually last year.
“Her father is Iraqi and her mother is Irish. And so we have a similar mix, you know, and there’s just something just genetic about us that just connected. And so I fight like she’s my daughter.”
Breast cancer is the most common form of the disease in women in Britain, and one in seven will develop it at some stage in their life.
There are more than 56,000 new cases every year and around 12,000 deaths. Around a third of patients are diagnosed with incurable secondary breast cancer.
A drug like Enhertu can extend women’s lives by up to six months, giving them more precious time with their families.
Nadia continued: “Every woman I meet, I’m the same. I’m outraged. I’m just outraged.
“So it doesn’t get me down. It drives me forward really, because actually what it does is it gives me bloody gratitude. It makes me go right here, right now, today, though nobody knows, I don’t have cancer.
“But there isn’t anybody in the world that isn’t going to be touched by breast cancer in some way. And that’s why I think everyone could be involved in this fight.”
Should the group secure the funds needed to secure a legal team, which includes a barrister who fought to overturn the ban on Herceptin – another game-changing cancer drug, Nadia said they would work to make progress as quickly as possible.
“We have a massive clock ticking over our head all the time,” she says. “Like when we think of, you know, Heather, who lost her life this week and we think of the other women that were out there on the lawn with us that next will need it. You know, that sort of driving, we’re in a hurry, we’re impatient.”
To donate to the campaign, click here.
What is Enhertu?
What is Enhertu? Enhertu, also known as trastuzumab deruxtecan, is a targeted cancer therapy used primarily to treat certain types of breast cancer. It is an antibody-drug conjugate, which means it combines an antibody with a chemotherapy drug.
How Does Enhertu Work? Enhertu works by specifically targeting the HER2 receptor, a protein overexpressed in some cancer cells. The antibody portion of Enhertu binds to the HER2 receptor, delivering the attached chemotherapy drug directly to the cancer cells. This targeted approach aims to kill cancer cells while minimising damage to healthy cells.
Indications: Enhertu is primarily indicated for:
- HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer
- HER2-positive gastric cancer (in some cases)
Administration: Enhertu is administered via intravenous infusion, typically in a clinical setting. The dosage and treatment schedule depend on various factors, including the type and stage of cancer, as well as the patient’s overall health.
Side Effects: Common side effects of Enhertu may include:
- Nausea and vomiting
- Fatigue
- Hair loss
- Decreased appetite
- Low blood cell counts
Effectiveness: Clinical trials have shown Enhertu to be effective in shrinking tumours and slowing the progression of cancer in patients with HER2-positive cancers, particularly when other treatments have failed.
4
#Devastated #Loose #Women #star #fights #tears #emotional #video #shares #heartbreaking #news
Leave a Reply