A mum-of-two diagnosed with breast cancer for a third time is in a race against time after being given just weeks to live.

Rechenda Hills has undergone surgery and had rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy but has been told the disease is incurable and there is nothing else the NHS can do.

The 51-year-old is now battling to give herself more time so she can see her three-month-old grand-daughter Rosie grow up.

Rechenda first discovered she had the disease in 2009 and underwent surgery and had chemotherapy and radiotherapy to recover.

Three years later, Rechenda, who lives in Northfleet, found a lump in the same breast and was told the cancer had returned.

She had a single mastectomy and treatment until she was given the all clear.

After 10 years, Rechenda started to get breathless and had difficulty swallowing but was told by her doctors it was a throat infection and she was put on a course of antibiotics.

When it had not cleared, the 51-year-old had a biopsy which came back inconclusive and was sent to St Thomas' Hospital, in London, for another scan.

It was there she received the devastating diagnosis that she had stage 4 metastatic breast cancer – meaning it has spread to other parts of the body and is incurable – in July 2022.

It had already reached her lungs by the time medics discovered the disease had returned and shortly after found it had reached her lymph nodes.

Her daughter, Kayleigh Bishop, said: "I do not know what we would have done if they had not found it."

In November 2022, Rechenda took a turn for the worse and had episodes where she could not speak prompting her family to ask for a brain scan which found she had multiple tumours.

She had been undergoing chemotherapy but was forced to stop treatment so to have brain radiotherapy which did shrink the tumours.

But in March this year she was hospitalised for 10 days.

Kayleigh, 25, said: "She was still being really independent but then she was taken to hospital as she had a really bad rash across her whole body and was really poorly and throwing up blood.

"In hospital she was going down hill. She was getting worse. She discharged herself as she did not want to be in there any more.

"This was four weeks ago and she has already got better in herself. We were told to prepare and that she only had a couple of weeks left but she has gone past that and is so much better.

"We cannot give up. She is so strong and such a fighter."

The NHS told the family that there was nothing else that its doctors would be able to do as Rechenda is now too unwell to continue treatment and it would no longer prolong her life.

However, the family has found a private treatment that is only in trial stages in the UK called dendritic cell therapy (DCT) which is offered by Spanish company Immucura.

It is a non-invasive treatment and works by boosting the immune system to fight the cancerous cells in the body using the patients own blood cells.

Dendritic cells help the immune system recognise and attack abnormal cells. In DCT, the patients cells are grown specifically in a lab to fight off cancer ones.

After seven days, they are injected by a vaccine back into the body with the information to attack the tumour and boost the immune system.

Kayleigh, who lives in Chatham, said: "We are out of options in this country. We are fighting against time here. This is our final chance.

"My daughter is three-months-old and she is my mum's first grandchild so she had been really looking forward to her arrival.

"She feels she is missing out on so much even now because she is not able to do the things she used to be able to do.

"She loves children and wants to spend that time with her and see her grow up. We are not prepared to give up on that."

Rechenda, who is also mum to 17-year-old Kane, added: "It would mean the world to me to even see my grandchild even get to two years old. It would just mean the world."

One course of DCT treatment costs £50,000 but even though it is not known for certain how long it would give the mum-of-two they are raising money to help pay for the therapy. You can donate here.

At the time of writing, more than £4,500 had been raised.

A fundraising event is also being held on April 29 at Dartford Football Club in the Champions Bar from 2pm. There will be a raffle, drinks and a buffet with tickets from £10.