CANCER patient Dawn Watts has won a double boost as she tries to raise £15,000 to pay for complementary treatment in Spain.

The fund total has surged past the £10,000 milestone, with a whole series of fundraising events also being planned - just as she has obtained an appointment to see a consultant oncologist at a Spanish clinic on Wednesday.

Dawn’s husband Stuart said: “We will be flying out there to meet him and to see what treatment he can offer, when this can start, and what the likely costs will be.”

The Press reported earlier this month how Dawn, 52, of Copmanthorpe, who has raised £32,500 over the last four years for charities such as York Against Cancer through organising rock concerts, taking part in a sky dive and a zip wire challenge, and through sponsorship for getting her hair cut off, was seeking to raise an initial £15,000 towards the cost of therapy for herself after her illness worsened.

The former nurse, who has faced a permanent cycle of treatment with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery and drugs after her breast cancer spread to her skin, spine and ribs, said she had found a clinic near Marbella which offered a bespoke complementary treatment aimed at promoting the body’s own immune system to tackle the illness.

Her husband Stuart said then they would be meeting some of the costs themselves but these would not be insignificant and, as they did not as yet know what these would be, were appealing for assistance, with their goal of £15,000 a starting point.

Stuart said yesterday the fundraising had since been going well, with £8,400 donated on the fundraising website, £550 in sponsorship for a planned sky dive by a friend, Gail Pountain and other direct and offline donations which had taken the total to approximately £10,000, and so was two thirds of the way there.

“A friend of ours donated a photography shoot with all donations going to Dawn’s fundraising- £350 - there is a music event coming up, DeeStock on October 14, in Ketley near Telford and a friend is hosting an art exhibition in Wendover for two weeks in September,” he said.

“She will be donating 20 per cent of all sales to the fund and will also be holding an auction/sale on Facebook of prints, cards and originals.

“A number of workplaces have been holding bake sales to help raise funds. QA Research, where my youngest son worked, has been holding these this week, and a number of offices from my employer have these scheduled in Leeds and Croydon.

“A friend is also looking to raise funds at his car racing club at September’s meeting at Rockingham.”

The Press reported recently how Dawn Watts was still continuing with her separate charity fundraising drive, for which she reached the finals of the York Community Pride contest last autumn, and is pressing ahead with a fourth annual charity rock music evening next February, dubbed Dawnfest 4, A Foreigners Journey, and featuring Metal Fatigue and Black Rose, in Wakefield next February.

*To make a donation to Dawn’s personal appeal, go to www.youcaring.com/dawnwatts-888074.