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A mum who survived the 7/7 terror attacks is now battling cancer and has launched a fundraising campaign for medical treatment which could save her life.
Nicky Ratcliff was a passenger on the Piccadilly Line train which was bombed in the string of attacks in 2005 which resulted in the deaths of 52 people.
Originally from Sittingbourne, Nicky sought to overcome the trauma of what she had been through by joining a walking group.
It was through this the 41-year-old met her husband, Mike.
The couple married in 2014, but last January, just a year after the birth of their daughter Ivy, Nicky was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Despite undergoing a lumpectomy and radiotherapy, after being admitted to hospital with suspected appendicitis six months later the Faversham resident discovered that the aggressive cancer had spread to her liver.
"It’s been hard. We make the best of it, but it’s not a walk in the park,” she said.
“It changes, and we just take it as it comes. I have to try to think positive and think there’s got to be a way through it.”
Because Nicky, of Makenade Avenue, has two tumours on either side of her liver, doctors have told her that they cannot operate.
She has now also been diagnosed with neurological problems known as paraneoplastic syndrome, which are believed to be linked to her cancer.
"I would feel like I was doing everything I can for my family, and I could go over there without debt hanging over my head" - Nicky Ratcliff
Her symptoms affect her muscles and nerves, which can make it difficult to walk.
Having worked for years as a legal secretary, and more recently in marketing, Nicky has also had to give up work.
“It’s just me and Ivy, and my mum comes over and helps,” she said.
However, after spending six weeks at a private clinic in Bad Mergentheim, Germany, where she underwent a mixture of low dose chemotherapy and heat therapy, as well as treatment to build up her immune system, her tumours have shrunk by a third.
Nicky is now hoping to raise £17,500 so she can continue her treatment, and ideally, go to an alternative cancer clinic in Mexico.
“It was working. They have got a totally different approach to building up your body and immune system.
“It’s a mix of alternative treatments with the more conventional kind, and because [the chemo] is low dose it’s not so harmful to your body,” she continued.
“It would be a dream [to get this treatment].
“I would feel like I was doing everything I can for my family, and I could go over there without debt hanging over my head.
“I just want it to go away.”
