Kidderminster family fights on after unsuccessful US cancer drug trial

The family of a 26-year-old with a rare form of cancer has vowed to fight on after a pioneering treatment in the US was unsuccessful.

Megan Smith, from Worcestershire, was 24 when she was diagnosed with stage four rectal cancer in January 2019.

Since December, she has been receiving treatment in Jacksonville, USA, but has since been told it had not worked.

She is now in California seeking new therapies as her family tries to raise the thousands needed to fund it.

Ms Smith's sister, Terri Smith, said the family owes £200,000 for her treatment at Jacksonville's Mayo Clinic and the new treatments they are exploring in California could cost up to £650,000.

"It's brilliant but it's so frustrating it's out of reach," Terri said. "You've got to try it though, we're not giving up."

So far, an online fundraiser has led to more than £130,000 in donations, but the family is still having to look at extreme options like selling their home in Kidderminster to raise the necessary funds.

"Selling it might be our only option," Terri said. "It's hard because it's all our memories but we'd give up everything if we had to, to make Meg better."

"Time isn't on our side so we need to act fast."

When Ms Smith was first diagnosed two years ago, she was told the rectal cancer was inoperable, and a course of radiotherapy commenced. However, the disease soon spread to her liver and a lung.

The family felt they were running out of options and so began looking at private treatments across the Atlantic.

"There's just nothing here in the UK for her," Terri said. "If she came home she'd just be on palliative care and that would be it."

In an emotional video on Facebook, Ms Smith broke down in tears as she revealed her oncologist in Jacksonville had told her there was nothing more that could be done to help her.

However, while she's had "a couple of bad days", her sister said her spirits remain high as they search to find alternative therapies to keep her alive.

"As a family we've been through so much, but we've been told these things before," she said. "There's always something."

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