A LOVING mum is trying to raise thousands of pounds to pay for cancer treatment which could give her one final Christmas with her family.

Doctors do not know exactly how long Stacie Rafton, 35, has left to live, but the mum of two, along with her loved ones and friends, has to raise £4,400 every month to undergo chemotherapy to treat her Aplastic Astrocytoma brain tumour.

Mrs Rafton, from Selby, has been with her husband Kenny, 37, for 17 years and married for five, and has two daughters with him, Chloe, 14, and eight-year-old Sophie.

Mrs Rafton, a former carer, said she believed her troubles began when she was a 15-year-old.

Doctors said her headaches were due to exam stress and the tumour went undiagnosed until January 2015 when she suffered a seizure.

A tumour was discovered and surgery followed six weeks later. However, the tumour was too deep in the brain to be fully removed.

After originally being told the tumour was benign, Mrs Rafton was diagnosed with Stage Three cancer and began radiotherapy.

“It was stable for two and a half years, but when I was on holiday in September I received a phone call asking me to come into hospital,” she said.

“The cancer was growing again and I needed to start oral chemotherapy. When you get a phone call like that it stops you in your tracks.

“As far as I knew I would have the operation, recover and go back to work, but when it came back as cancer and I needed radiotherapy, that’s when I knew things would change.”

The oral treatment did not work and Mrs Rafton has been told she may not survive passed Christmas unless she gets private treatment for her tumour, known as Aplastic Astrocytoma. The family have resorted to fundraising to pay for the drug Avastin, which will hopefully give them precious time together this Christmas - but it costs £4,400 for two cycles a month.

She added: “I would love to see Christmas. It will be one last memory my daughters can remember me by. We are going to make it a good one and do lots of things. We’ve got days out planned at Stockhill Park and the Designer Outlet’s Winter Wonderland.My daughters are being really brave and I want them to carry on as normal, and make as many memories as possible.”

Donate at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/stella-snowball