A mum who was told to not be concerned about her blurred vision was later told the initial diagnosis was wrong and she in fact had a tumour.

57-year-old Julie Woodington began noticing a strange blur in her vision in the lead-up to Christmas, 2020.

Assuming it might be a migraine or something otherwise trivial, she enjoyed the festivities as normal before it gradually got worse, forcing a trip to the optician.

They told her it was possibly a detached iris. Son Ben Woodington, 31, told The Mirror how she asked there and then if it was “anything scary like cancer” but was reassured that wasn’t the case.

A few weeks later Julie received a life-changing call, she was told it might be a tumour behind her eye.

Doctors then spent months trying to figure out what the root of cancer was and during this terrifying time, the mum-of-two and her family could do nothing as the cancer spread.

Ben, from Bristol and living in Cambridge, said: “What followed was months and months of tests which was incredibly stressful for her and the family… they were trying to find out where the primary tumour, which was in her lung, the secondary one was behind her eye.”

It was only when they figured this out that they could begin treatment, but because it was diagnosed as late stage 4, some of their options were limited.

Ben described her undergoing “every treatment under the sun”, from chemo to immunotherapy, radiotherapy as well as putting herself forward for two clinical trials.

During the early stages of her treatment, her doctors identified a mutation in her cancer, called HER2, and later on, her oncologist told her of one drug specifically, Enhertu, that could help with such a mutation.

However, despite being widely available in the UK to breast cancer patients, and in the US to lung cancer patients, lung cancer patients in the UK get no access to it through the NHS.

“She’s been told by her oncologist this is a really effective drug, but unfortunately we can’t give it to you," Ben said. "One of the most painful experiences for her is being told that, and whilst breast cancer patients are receiving it in the same hospital.

"It’s incredibly frustrating, everyone in our family feels powerless. I work within cancer research and it's especially strange for me being aware of the research going on and the trials and being completely powerless to do anything."

One study has found that Enhertu has twice the success rate in achieving a complete response than Kadcyla, a drug used under the NHS. Similarly, another study found that Enhertu successfully shrank tumours in around 60 per cent of lung cancer patients, including making one patient's cancer disappear altogether.

Whilst the NHS has approved it for use in breast cancer patients, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is waiting on submissions from the companies behind the drug. On their website, they said that appraisal isn’t anticipated to begin until July next year.

The family have since turned to fundraising the money themselves to buy the drug so Julie can take it.

Ben said: “This is the last option we have, there’s one other chemotherapy drug that they may use, but it’s an old-school, gnarly drug which causes the worst side effects.”

He described his mum as someone who would always put others first and “do everything in her power to help, even three years into her diagnosis”.

Along with sister Chloe, 28, Ben’s hoping the family can fundraise enough to pay for four cycles of treatment for Julie.