A HORSE trainer and church volunteer from Nailsworth is raising money for treatment in her last stand against cancer.

Nina Collins, 59, of Forest Green, has been fighting aggressive breast cancer since February 2018, but the NHS can now only offer her palliative care.

The radiation in her body keeping back the cancer will expire on Christmas Day, she said.

Ms Collins needs £14,000 to travel to the Hilu Institute in Spain in December for a new whole-body treatment offered by cellular biologist Dr Raymond Hilu.

“This is my only option now, if I don’t get it, it will be a slow and painful end,” she said.

“It took me a long time to do this fundraiser, I’m a really independent person but I got to a point where I thought there’s no way I’m going to raise £20,000 on my own.

"So I had to let everybody in, I had to become really vulnerable.”

Ms Collins, who lives with her son, Aaron, 21, was diagnosed with breast cancer in February, 2018.

“The toughest thing has been watching Aaron go through this with me and him trusting me with what I’m doing,” she said.

By August the next year, the tumours on her chest had grown to the size of a tennis ball and, she said, ate through her skin, leaving her hospitalised.

Radiotherapy and a series of injections and tablets weren’t effective, and by October the cancer had grown to 14cm.

Throughout her treatment, Ms Collins has volunteered in her church in Wales to help people with addiction, alcohol and drug problems.

She said she had to step back from much of her work with horses since she was diagnosed with cancer, but she said her animals have remained brilliant therapeutic partners.

Now she hopes that a treatment that focuses on holistic cellular level healing will give her more time with her son.

The treatment starts on December 8 but she does not yet have funding for the whole course which Dr Hilu has agreed she can pay on a weekly basis.

“I have absolutely done everything I can do, and I can’t get to see this cellular biologist unless I put my whole life out there and go, ‘Can somebody help me?’, whether it’s with money or prayers or encouragement.”

To help Nina Collins reach her fundraising goal, you can make a donation to her gofundme page at tinyurl.com/NinaCollinsFundraiser