Hi my name is Rachael and I want to share the story about what has happened to my mother Marie. All her life my mother has paid her taxes to the NHS and the country. She always refused to take any child benefit for her three children as she was well off enough not to do so and felt it was unfair. However in recent years things have been very tight and she has often made sacrifices but never complained.

In February 2026 she felt ill and after blood tests the NHS indicated she likely had ovarian cancer and lost vital time referring her to Gynaecology. In March 2026 they established she actually had HCC liver cancer and at the time her tumour was only 7cm and her liver was compensated which means it was not in such a bad way and treatable. Exeter Hospital failed to treat her until the start of June 2026.

We now know that they have not met the NHS pathway rule to commence treatment within 62 days from diagnosis, for TEN YEARS.

We also now know that Exeter Hospital has a history as stated on the CQC website of allowing cancers to progress due to a failure to treat promptly.

We even suggested contactIng the Clinical Director, but were fobbed off by an Assistant Director of the Hospital Trust, holding the position of Head of Communications.

PALS have also been virtually silent on the complaint and we've not had any response to our complaint.

In April 2026 I obtained an opinion from a world renowned liver surgeon at Kings College Hospital and he stressed she needed urgent combination systemic treatment including immunotherapy and told her she had many years left if this started now. Exeter Hospital's Oncology team point blank refused to take his report into account stating he was "just a liver doctor". He also recommended a liver MRI scan was carried out. Exeter also refused to do this so I also paid for this privately in May 2026. It showed her tumour had now progressed to 14.9cm and her liver was now decompensated. Her gall bladder had now collapsed and her spleen was enlarged. Exeter Hospital failed to review the MRI report and act accordingly and failed to advise us at all on this scan and her deterioration.

The NHS only provided her with one single session of immunotherapy at the start of June 2026. I believe she was supposed to be on a 2 week urgent referral. I also believe that treatment should have at the very least commenced within 62 days of diagnosis.

Now, they have withdrawn treatment and said they are not prepared to help her further. They said her liver function had suddenly gone down but refused to give us more information.

When directly asked what her Child-Pugh score was, the treating Oncologist said "I am not prepared to answer that". We asked if the drop in liver function was temporary and whether the reason for the drop could be investigated and potentially remedied, so her immunotherapy could re-commence and we did not even receive the courtesy of a response. We have since very recently sought the advice of a world renowned Oncologist at Kings College who has advised her liver function drop SHOULD have been investigated as it is possible it can be reversed and immunotherapy re-commenced. He advised that given the MRI findings, an endoscopy should have been carried out before immunotherapy commenced. He's also highlighted that the liver team SHOULD have continued to have input and should have arranged an abdominal scan and also dealt with her ascites which have been causing a lot of issues including very swollen legs and 24 hour itchiness yet the view from Exeter's Oncology team was that other than water tablets there was nothing they could do. Plus, they stated this was the GP's job to deal with, which I disagree with. In fact, they could have potentially drained the excess fluid and improved her symptoms but they just did not care enough. We repeatedly asked if she needed drainage and were told they would "get back to us". Of course, we know now that this was what the liver team should have been dealing with and they should have been advising us.

Exeter Hospital failed to provide a multi disciplinary approach which is standard in other hospitals for example Kings.

They have given my lovely mother 6-12 months to live and refused to answer any of our questions. The complaints team also ignored my written complaint as I have never received any meaningful reply.

Exeter Hospital seem to have failed her at every level.

I have found a clinic in India that has provided a treatment plan. I also found the same in Germany. Essentially they request the biopsy from the UK and analyse this to provide effective, targeted treatment. It's very complicated and I am not a doctor but they believe they can treat her. No one can ever make any promise but they told me that they have access to medicines and treatments that the UK does not. On checking, I discovered that India (and Germany) have the best cancer clinics in the world. Not England.

However, we do not have the funds for this. India allows payment plans - from my research, Germany & England (private route) do not.

My mother waited 40 years for a grandchild and she finally has Liam, a beautiful boy who is 2 years old and loves his grandma. It is heartbreaking that she paid her taxes and took such an altruistic view with child benefit and this is how the NHS repays her. Liam is now facing growing up without his grandmother but he doesn't understand - he is only two years old.

Her only real chance seems to be treatment in India.

Please help us save my lovely mother. She did not deserve such poor treatment from the NHS and she is the backbone of our family. Our family will break without her and my father will not cope. In fact, we fear he will either then end his life or die of a broken heart. After 56 years of marriage.

I know that there are many gofundme requests these days and I've never done one before. I almost did not do this as I felt it was a burden on strangers. I wish I could put the money up front to save her but I don't have £100k lying around - who does.

The initial target is set at £16k but from the quotes received, the realistic sum required is £100k and that is our ultimate target. If she requires repeat treatment cycles, it might well exceed this though.

Please, if you can spare anything we will be so grateful - words cannot say how much we love her and cannot lose her.

Thank you very much for your time in reading this.