THE FAMILY of a Silsden woman fighting bowel cancer are trying to raise £24,000 towards life-saving treatment.

The cash will pay for mother-of-four Sally Major to undergo the latest round of a surgical technique not available on the NHS.

Relatives, including husband Liam, mother Michele Hinitt and sister Linsey Outlaw, have launched a JustGiving page and plan a fundraising afternoon on September 3 at the Punchbowl in Silsden.

The ‘crowdfunding’ campaign on justgiving.com has already raised £2,847 towards the £24,560 cost of ablation, in which cancerous tissue will be surgically removed, and a follow-up scan.

After this there will be need for further £56,642 for a new drug that is not funded on the NHS.

Sally, 32, who has four children, Ryan, Adam, Maisy and George, aged between two and 11, was diagnosed in May last year with advanced stage 4 bowel cancer.

Her mother said: “This was caught very late in the day, at the point that Sally's bowel was fully obstructed by the tumour.

“Sally had emergency surgery to remove the tumour and a foot of her bowel, and was left with a stoma.

“It was discovered the cancer was not curable, and had spread to her liver and both lungs.”

Intensive chemotherapy initially helped Sally, but some tumours remained, and the family researched other treatments including ablation, NanoKnife and CyberKnife.

Michele said: “These are not NHS-funded for Stage 4 patients and are very expensive.

“We have been extremely lucky that some amazing people raised around £15,000 towards ablation of the liver and lung tumours, and thankfully we managed to self-fund the remainder.

“Sally's liver is now clear and lungs are minimally affected, but a recent PET scan showed further cancer in Sally’s peritoneum and lymph nodes.”

The current JustGiving fundraising will pay for ablation of the recently-discovered cancer.

Michele described the fundraisers – whose efforts so far have included a Three Peaks Walk – as “superstars”.

She said: “I can't believe how supporting people can be, some family, some friends and even some strangers."

Linsey Outlaw added: “We are overwhelmed by people's generosity. People have donated art work which I'm going to sell on eBay, hoping to spread the word further afield.

“We need all the publicity we can get, to help us raise as many funds as possible to improve my sister's chances in this battle."

The fundraising page can be found by typing Michele Hinitt into the justgiving.com search box.