'I am too young to die': Longford woman in desperate bid to fly to Mexico for life saving treatment

Thirty-five-year-old Laura Gilmore Anderson was told by doctors yesterday to effectively go home and spend her final days with her family after all preventative treatments used to stop the spread of neuroendocrine tumours which have ravaged her body over the last three years had failed.

Laura, who resides in Scotland, with her husband Paul, received the heartbreaking news just days after enjoying a once in a lifetime trip to Disneyland in Paris.

“I had a scan on Monday because I had been feeling unwell and had been in a lot of pain,” she recalled.

“My stomach was swollen and I just thought I was going in to get it drained but then I got the terrible news.”

Any thoughts of embarking on a gruelling course of chemotherapy was one the Longford woman immediately realised the seriousness of after a previous bout of chemotherapy two years ago forced Laura to look elsewhere for alternative remedies due to the treatment’s debilitating side effects.

Despite that setback, in July 2021, Laura, thanks to sustained fundraising on both sides of the Irish Sea, flew out to Mexico’s Hope for Cancer clinic, a facility that is a recognised world leader in holistic and integrative oncology.

However, last year Laura’s hopes were dealt a further blow when doctors informed her her cancer had spread to her liver and lymphatic system, something which saw her undergo peptide receptor radionuclide (PRRT) therapy in Glasgow.

But it was the devastating news delivered this week which has all but ended any hopes Laura might have held of continuing mainstream cancer treatments at home, leaving a return trip to Mexico as her only option.

Moments after learning of the news yesterday, Laura took to Facebook and posted a heart-rending video appeal in a move which saw a gofundme online appeal in her name reach £240,000.

“The new mass on my pelvis which is 10x7cm which is very big and my liver is nearly covered,” she revealed. 

“I just felt I was back in July 2020 when I first got the diagnosis. When you are told ‘Laura you are not responding to any of the preventions in treatment we are offering, we don’t want you to try chemotherapy because you are not going to come out of the hospital again and it will shorten your timespan to live, that we just want you to enjoy the time left with your family, how do you take that?

“I was in sheer panic and went outside for fresh air and rang my sister. It was there that I did a video and it got a phenomenal response.”

That overwhelming reaction is one the former Sligo IT graduate had originally hoped would all but secure her plane ticket to Mexico.

News, however, that her tumours have not just grown but spread to her pelvis has meant an original £240,000 target has now been revised to upwards of £420,000.

“Due to the complexity of my case and before we found out this news we thought I would need three treatments, but now it’s looking like six to nine treatments of immunotherapy,” she said, adding that she also faces having to undergo potentially life saving cancer treatment in Germany before flying to Mexico.

Her plight is made all the more heartbreaking amid fears her condition went undiagnosed for three years despite countless visits to her GP and having spent months off work owing to crippling pain.

Fighting back tears, Laura thanked and appealed once final time to the public, adding: “If only love and kindness could cure me, I would be cured right now. 

“I am too young to die, I am only 35 and I don’t want to give up. I am still breathing and all I can say is ‘Please God, give me a chance to get this treatment and give me more time’.”

To donate to Laura's appeal, simply click HERE