Family's plea to help get mum home to carry on cancer treatment after shock heart attack on holiday

Now the family of Julie Pearson, 58, is appealing to raise the £10,000 needed to fly her back to the Fylde coast to resume chemotherapy.

Julie, of Lancaster Avenue, Thornton, booked a holiday with her partner Steve Atkinson, 58 back in January but was diagnosed with bone cancer in her shoulder in June.

She was a day away from getting on the flight home when she suffered a heart attack and was rushed to hospital.

Mum-of-five Julie now has stents in her heart, running up medial bills totalling close to five figures.

Her daughter Polly Waring said: “We still don’t know what caused her heart attack. She’s lucky to be alive. This is so difficult for my dad, nobody really knows what’s going on because translation from the doctors is difficult.

“Me and my siblings are finding out pieces of information from my dad, and the doctors told him if this had happened on her flight home she wouldn’t be here now.”

Julie was receiving chemotherapy treatment for cancer in her shoulder, breast, spine, both femurs and pelvis.

However, this cannot continue until she gets home.

Her family said she took the risk of travelling without insurance after being quoted thousands of pounds due to her illness, which she did not know about at the time she booked the flights.

Polly said she is hopeful her mum will be discharged from hospital this week but does not know what will happen next.

Julie, who has ten grandchildren, was receiving chemotherapy treatment for her cancer, but has now had to prioritise medication for her heart and temporarily cease the chemo.

Her son Jono Atkinson said: “We are the type of people who help everyone else, we don’t like asking for help.

“But now the most important thing is getting our mum home and admitted to the Vic where they can help her, and we can get a better idea of what has happened with her heart.

“We were told it will take her months to recover from the heart attack, and during that time the cancer treatment has to wait.

“It’s going to have a bad effect on her immune system.”

An online fund-raiser has attracted support from the public as well as Blackpool North and Cleveleys MP Paul Maynard and deputy police crime commissioner Chris Webb.

Mr Maynard said: “This is an extremely sad situation and I understand what a difficult time this is for Julie and her family.

“I am keen to offer whatever support and assistance I can and have made a personal donation to the fund-raising effort to bring her home.”

A Facebook donations page has been set up by her family, and donation points can be found in One Stop on Rossendale Avenue South, Thornton, and O’Connor’s Bar, on St George’s Lane, Cleveleys.

To donate to the online fund-raiser, search “Get Julie Home” on Facebook.