Cancer victim Gail Hepworth is planning to return to the New York clinic which gave her an astonishing new lease of life.

Friends intend staging two fundraising events to pay for the North Yorkshire mother's second visit to the Schachter Centre.

Gail, of Hemingbrough, near Selby, went out to the Big Apple in the autumn of 1999 after an extraordinary fundraising campaign - backed by many Evening Press readers - collected £13,000 in 18 days.

She had said she wanted to see her children Tom and Jack grow up, and also to improve the quality of her life.

Gail had been on 1,200mgs of morphine a day before she went to America, but was still suffering terrible pain.

In New York, she was given a range of complementary nutrients and treatments. On her return, she declared: "I feel like a different woman." And within a few months she had reduced her morphine intake and she finally came off the painkiller altogether, using only over-the-counter drugs to control her pain.

Derek Whetton, who helped raise the money to pay for the first trip, said she had done well since then and still remained off morphine, but her condition had declined somewhat.

Now she and her husband, David, felt that another trip to the centre could provide just the tonic she needed.

Derek said £5,000 was needed this time round; less than in 1999 because Gail now knew people in America who could provide her with accommodation and thus save her large sums on hotel bills.

Two events were planned which he hoped would, between them, raise the money. One was a two-day sponsored walk, the other was a clay pigeon shooting day.

The walk is scheduled for March 24-25 and will take place in North Yorkshire, although the precise route has not yet been decided. Derek is hoping up to 35 people will agree to take part.

A date for the shooting event has not yet been fixed, and participants will need to book in advance.

David said last night that Gail had been suffering bad headaches, and was undergoing a scan in London today to check that the cancer had not spread to her brain. He said her doses of European mistletoe had been increased yesterday in a bid to counteract the pain.

"She's done really well and we had a fantastic Christmas and New Year."

* Anyone wanting to take part in the walk, or to sponsor someone, should call Derek on 01405 862541.

Updated: 10:49 Tuesday, January 16, 2001