Gail and I wish to express our heartfelt thanks to big-hearted Evening Press readers for their generous support to send her to America for special complementary treatment for terminal cancer last November.

It is hard to believe that a year has passed since then and it is a significant milestone in her fight for life. Gail and I look forward to a second Christmas together as a family, thanks to you.

Gail continues to enjoy a much-improved quality of life, free from the debilitating effects of morphine. Readers may recall how she needed to take more 1,250mg of morphine daily 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.

It has not been an easy year and can only be described as a "rollercoaster" of emotion. I know there are many people out there who have gone through or are going through, similar experiences and our hearts go out to them.

Gail still maintains regular telephone conversations with Dr Schacter and the Schacter Centre for Complementary Medicine in New York. She has recently received complementary treatment on the NHS at the Royal Homeopathic Hospital, Great Ormond Street, London. There she is injected with Iscador (European mistletoe) which has been shown to stimulate the immune system, inhibit tumour formation and improve the length and quality of life of patients.

Dr Kassab can see patients on the NHS when a letter of referral is sent from their own GP or oncologist.

We would also like to thank GNER for their generosity in providing rail travel for Gail's treatment in London.

A special thank you to Derek Whetton, the fund coordinator, who has worked tirelessly to support Gail and myself throughout and thanks again go to the Evening Press's chief reporter, Mike Laycock, for launching the appeal and reporting Gail's plight with such sensitivity.

David Hepworth,

Hemingbrough, near Selby.