Hope Stringer cancer fundraiser raises £91k in 72 hours

Pic:Nancy Stringer (left) has launched a fundraiser to pay for her sister Hope's cancer treatment/bbc
Staff reporter(wp/bbc):

A campaign to raise money for a woman's cancer treatment has received almost £92,000 in five days.

Hope Stringer, 27, from Billericay in Essex, recently found her sarcoma diagnosed in 2014 had returned and spread to her lungs and lymph nodes.

When the NHS said they could only manage her illness, her sister Nancy Stringer launched a campaign to raise £700,000 for treatment in the US.

She said Hope had been "overwhelmed" by the support she had received so far.

In its first 24 hours, the fundraiser received £55,000 in donations. It has since reached £91,793 and Miss Stringer said any excess funds would be given to Sarcoma UK.

The funds have come from more than 1,000 supporters, with donations ranging from £5 to £5,000.

Hope wrote a blog about her experience when she learned she had cancer in 2014. In the blog she described how she "looked like Uncle Fester's love child" while going through chemotherapy.

She was originally treated by the NHS, but her sister said this time it was unable to offer a cure and could only put her through chemotherapy again.

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Miss Stringer, 29, said that Hope - who was proposed to by her boyfriend Sean Pearce shortly before her cancer returned - was feeling "scared and emotional".

But she added: "There is a company in America which specialises in her type of cancer so I set up the fundraising page to try and get her out there in the next couple of days for an appointment.

"We all feel very grateful, although we know there is a long way to go."

The family previously raised £90,000 for Sarcoma UK. The charity's chief executive Richard Davidson said he "can't thank them enough" and added: "It's never easy being told that your sarcoma has returned. We wish Hope the best of luck with her treatment."