A MUM from Hale who lost her eye to an extremely rare form of cancer has been through a lot in the last three years, after she found out it had spread to her liver.

Wendy Peake, 58, her husband and their two daughters India and Bella have had a ‘traumatic’ and ‘devastating’ time since she was diagnosed in 2017.

She said: “I went for a routine eye test and they told me I had a partially detached retina. I rushed to hospital, but they said I’d be out by the next day. It didn’t turn out that way.”

Wendy had a rare form of eye cancer, which usually affects men over the age of 75. She had her eye removed and was given a prosthetic.

She said: “It was devastating. I used to get stared at, my eye was closed, but it was horrendous. But my prosthetic is brilliant. Overnight I went from being looked at to being anonymous, it was the most amazing feeling.”

Not only did Wendy lose her eye, but she later found the rare cancer had spread to her liver, which happens in about 40 per cent of cases. She was told by doctors that it could spell ‘the end of the road’ for her.

When her family found out about a treatment trial, things looked like they could be on the up.

Wendy went through a gruelling assessment process, including being tested for and anxiously awaiting results for any possible brain cancer, she was given the all clear and accepted on to the trial.

The mother-of-two was due to begin treatment at the end of March.

Wendy said: “When we heard about this amazing trial and I’d passed all of the difficult, horrendous assessments, March 13 was meant to be the start of the trial.

“We were elated, it was like a golden ticket and the biggest cheque I could have ever received. It meant I could see more of my children and my family. It was golden to go from having no hope to this – it was amazing.”

Wendy explained the trial involves isolating a patient’s liver so they can tolerate much higher doses of chemotherapy than they would normally be able to.

But the pandemic hit and Wendy’s trial was abandoned.

She said: “We were beside ourselves. I’m never normally in a low mood, but that night I was in a low mood. I cannot describe it. I wrote to Boris Johnson, Keir Starmer, Graham Brady, you name it I wrote to them in desperation. It was devastating.”

But despite her efforts and Public Health England saying cancer treatments were not being affected by the Covid-19 outbreak, Wendy and her family could do nothing but wait.

While they waited, Wendy’s cancer progressed and one of her liver tumours doubled in size.

Now lockdown is finally easing, a private company has taken on the trial and Wendy is due to start treatment again – but her family now have to fund it themselves.

Wendy is due to start her trial treatment at the end of this month and she has started a Go Fund Me page.