BREAST cancer sufferer Barbara Tucker has spoken of her 'last hope' at finding a treatment to lengthen her life.

The Chiseldon woman has launched a last ditch appeal to raise £18,000 so she can undergo an alternative, holistic treatment in Germany.

Chemotherapy has failed the 52-year-old and now all her consultant can offer are scans to monitor her cancer.

Barbara is trying to raise enough cash to go to a clinic in Germany which specialises in treatments using herbs, vitamins and oxygen.

“I am desperate for this to work. This to me is my last hope,” she told the Advertiser.

“My body is a ticking clock at the moment. All the hospital can offer me is two-monthly scans to see the progression of the cancer.”

“I just don’t want to sit back and do nothing. I don’t know what the future holds, but I’m not going to wait for it to spread.

“If it doesn’t work it doesn’t work. Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” she added.

Barbara was first diagnosed in 2009. She underwent a mastectomy at the Great Western Hospital but discovered that her type of cancer was not suitable for Herceptin drug treatment, which meant she could only have chemo and radiotherapy.

Although she was never given the all-clear she was free of symptoms for the next four years.

But last year she felt something was wrong. She was losing weight and although her husband Steve initially put it down to her dog walking job, she felt the cancer was back.

It took nine months before she could convince the medics. She was sent for mammograms but they came back clear.

“It even got to the stage where I was worried about going back because they would think I was a hypochondriac,” she said.

It was not until she discovered a small lump on the skin of her chest and was sent for an ultrasound that they realised not only had it returned, but it had spread to her lymph glands. The cancer was so deep-seated it was on her sternum.

Between January and June this year she underwent more bouts of chemotherapy, suffering blood clots in her lungs along the way.

But it became clear it was not working and she and her consultant came to the conclusion that it was not worth continuing.

“I felt so let down to be truthful,” she said.

“I had spent six months doing this every week, being ill, feeling sick. For what? For nothing. At least the previous time I had a glimmer of hope.”

It was then that she heard about the holistic clinic in Brandenburg from a friend who was undergoing treatment there.

She researched it and discovered it used a range of alternative treatments including mistletoe injections, diet supplements and oxygen blood infusions.

She also discovered it was likely to cost in the region of £18,000, although she is cutting the cost significantly by staying in a nearby bed and breakfast while undergoing the treatment.

So far she has managed to raise over £2,000 by crowdfunding.

She and husband Steve, a policeman, were planning to retire next year, sell up and move down to Cornwall. But now she says: “I don’t know how much time I’ve got left.”

Visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/barbara-tucker to support Barbara.