You've done it ! Evening Press readers touched by the plight of cancer-stricken North Yorkshire mother Gail Hepworth have helped made her dream of life-prolonging treatment in New York a reality.

And the £9,000 needed for Gail's therapy has been raised in less than three weeks.

"It's absolutely fantastic news - we are both overwhelmed," Gail's husband, David, said today. "We are very, very grateful to all the readers who have donated, and we just can't thank them enough."

He said the family had thought the £9,000 required would be impossible to reach.

"But we've been staggered by the way everyone has rallied round," he said.

More than 100 guests packed the Merchant Adventurers' Hall for a 1970s-themed Staying Alive disco which raised more than £1,000.

With other events this weekend, it means the target has been reached in only eighteen days.

"I cannot put into words what it felt like to be there in a room full of love and affection," said Gail, 39, of Hemingbrough, near Selby.

"They wanted to be there for me - I felt love for them and they felt love for me. It was a fantastic evening."

Mother-of-two Gail has incurable secondary bone cancer, which developed after breast cancer suffered two years ago. She wants to live long enough to see her sons, Tom and Jack, grow up, and believes that the complementary treatment offered at the New York clinic could help her live a longer and better life.

She has already booked into the clinic to start treatment on November 15.

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