One year ago, she flew out to New York in a desperate bid to stay alive for her two young children - helped on her way by the Evening Press' generous readers.

In crippling pain despite huge daily doses of morphine, she could barely think about Christmas.

Today, Gail Hepworth, of Hemingbrough, near Selby, is looking forward to another festive season with her family - husband David and sons Tom and Jack - and continuing to enjoy a much-improved quality of life, free from the debilitating effects of morphine.

David marked the first anniversary of her trip to the Schachter Centre for Complementary Medicine by giving the couple's heartfelt thanks to our "big-hearted" readers who helped raise many thousands of pounds to pay for the trip. He also thanked fundraising co-ordinator Derek Whetton and the Evening Press for its sensitive reporting of Gail's plight.

In a letter to tonight's paper, he said the anniversary of the trip was a significant milestone in Gail's fight for life.

"Readers may recall how Gail needed to take over 1,250 mg of morphine daily in an attempt to control excruciating bone pain. Now, through a variety of complementary therapies, Gail is still morphine-free and only uses analgesics to control breakthrough pain."

He said it had not been an easy year to cope with. It had been a "rollercoaster of emotion," and he knew many others were going through similar experiences. "Our hearts go out to them."

He said Gail, aged 40, still maintained regular telephone contact with the Schachter Centre. But she had recently received complementary treatment on the NHS at the Royal Homeopathic Hospital in Great Ormond Street in London, with GNER generously helping by providing rail travel.

"There (at the hospital), she is injected with Iscador (European mistletoe) which has been shown in research to stimulate the immune system, inhibit tumour formation and improve the length and quality of life of patients."

He added that patients could be seen on the health service on a letter of referral from GP or oncologist.