Roz Paterson: Scots mum who refunded £320,000 of fundraiser dies

A woman who refunded thousands of pounds raised to help her get cancer treatment has died.
Cancer mum-of-two who returned money raised diesCancer mum-of-two who returned money raised dies
Cancer mum-of-two who returned money raised dies

Roz Paterson, who was 52 and living in Beauly, had raised £320,000 of her £500,000 target after being told that she may only have weeks to live.

The mother-of-two, originally from Glasgow, wanted to travel to the US for Car-T Cell therapy because her cancer is resistant to chemotherapy.

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She refunded the donations after being offered treatment in the UK.

The money was raised through an online crowdfunding campaign and fundraising events. Scots actress and director Karen Gillan was among the many people who backed Roz's campaign.

Her local community in Beauly, near Inverness, rallied behind her and raised thousands of pounds through fundraising events.

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Roz, who started the NHS Scotland-funded treatment at London's Kings College Hospital in March, died at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness on Monday.

Her family are holding a celebration of her life next week with donations going to Macmillan Cancer Support and Maggie's Highlands.

Roz, a journalist who worked for the Daily Record and latterly wrote for Scottish Socialist Voice and also a blog about her cancer, was first diagnosed with lymphoma cancer last summer.

She had initially been told by NHS Scotland that the treatment she wanted was unavailable in Scotland, and that she was ineligible for funding to travel south.

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With help from friends and family - husband Malcolm McDonald, 62, and their children Thea, 13, David, 10 - she began a funding drive to raise the cash needed for her treatment, which uses a medicine called Kymriah at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital.

After being told that she would be able to get the treatment in the UK, the crowdfunding donations were refunded.

Money from fundraising events were donated to the Highland Hospice, Maggie's Highlands, Marie Curie, Macmillan and the Teenage Cancer Trust.

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