{"id":914629,"date":"2026-04-24T04:48:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T04:48:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/914629\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T04:48:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T04:48:39","slug":"brave-scots-mum-in-race-against-time-for-chance-of-life-saving-cancer-op","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/914629\/","title":{"rendered":"Brave Scots mum in race against time for chance of life-saving cancer op"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"An<\/p>\n

A SCOTS mum is in a desperate race against time to raise \u00a330k for the chance to have a vital life-saving cancer op.<\/p>\n

Gemma Flannigan, who is mum to Celtic <\/a>Youth player\u00a0Calvin Keenan, 18, is fighting for her life after medics in Scotland <\/a>told her they were unable to operate to save her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Scottish Sun newsletter\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Gemma Flannigan is raising money for a chance of a life-saving operation by specialist cancer doctors in London<\/p>\n

Gemma, 44, was diagnosed with ovarian tubular cancer last year after months of excruciating pain<\/p>\n

The 44-year-old was diagnosed with ovarian tubular cancer <\/a>back in October and on March 31 she went for a 10-hour operation to remove the tumours from her pelvis and abdomen.<\/p>\n

But the beauty therapist was left distraught when she woke up just a few hours later to be told that the tumours had spread and the\u00a0surgery was too complex for doctors <\/a>at Glasgow\u2019s Royal Infirmary <\/a>to operate on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Medics told heartbroken Gemma and partner Ross, 45, that there was nothing else they could do and sent the devastated couple home, telling them she had just \u201cmonths, possibly years left\u201d.<\/p>\n

But the determined couple, who are from Irvine in Ayrshire<\/a>, spent days researching her condition in the hopes of finding a second opinion.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMost read in The Scottish Sun\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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‘FOBBED OFF’<\/p>\n

My son struggled to breathe – 7 doctors blamed tonsillitis but it was cancer<\/p>\n

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MUM’S FIGHT<\/p>\n

I won’t see my kids leave school -foot tendonitis was actually incurable cancer<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Eventually they found there is an option of a private care facility\u00a0and\u00a0specialists in London <\/a>who may be able to carry out the complex op \u2013 but at a cost of a minimum of \u00a330,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gemma, who is also\u00a0stepmum to Erin, 20, Oliver, 17 and 12-year-old Clover, said: \u201cI\u2019m basically fighting for my life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite the devastating diagnosis Gemma\u2019s strength and resilience has touched everyone in her home town of Irvine, Ayrshire who rallied to raise \u00a325k in just one day Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk<\/p>\n

Gemma has gone through five gruelling rounds of chemo Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk<\/p>\n

\u201cThe feeling I had when I woke up after I was supposed to have the operation was indescribable. It was worse than when I was first diagnosed. It felt so hopeless.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re being told \u2018that\u2019s it, there\u2019s nothing we can do\u2019, by the only people you believed can save you.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMost read in The Scottish Sun\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels so unfair. I want to live.\u201d<\/p>\n

After setting up a GoFundMe <\/a>Gemma has raised more than \u00a325,000 in one day and hopes to tip the target with more generous donations.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI\u2019ve been absolutely blown away. People have been so generous and all the incredible comments and well wishes have had me in tears. I feel so grateful and it\u2019s lovely to know so many people are behind me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gemma first began experiencing pain in her ribs and stomach last year which doctors initially put down to symptoms or perimenopause.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cIt literally caused me excruciating\u00a0pain to laugh or cough or sneeze. I was just in agony. My stomach was huge, I looked like I\u2019d swallowed two bowling balls. I knew there was something very wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gemma and partner Ross are determined to do everything they can to give her a chance at life Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk<\/p>\n

Gemma pictured before her crushing diagnosis Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk<\/p>\n

\u201cEventually after a lot of pushing\u00a0for answers and a lot of back and forth, they told me I had ovarian tubular cancer. It was absolutely devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the crushing diagnosis Gemma has undergone five rounds of gruelling chemotherapy, has lost her hair and has had to give up her beauty business.<\/p>\n

The brave mum says even after enduring all of this she is fighting on.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cMy oncologist at the Beatson has been wonderful. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe is working with the specialists in London and they are hopeful that with treatment down there they will be able to prolong my life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have so much life left to live, so many people to care for, so many memories to make and so much more to give, especially as a mum. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not ready to stop this fight for my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you would like to help Gemma please donate here <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A SCOTS mum is in a desperate race against time to raise \u00a330k for the chance to have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":914630,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[11],"tags":[207,105,426,211,460,530,16,15],"class_list":["post-914629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-cancer-disease","tag-health","tag-health-warnings","tag-nhs","tag-operations-and-surgery","tag-police-scotland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116457880033697337","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=914629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/914630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=914629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=914629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=914629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}