Cancer victim Gail Hepworth is bouncing back after spending her 40th birthday in hospital - being treated for septicaemia.

Gail, who received complementary therapy at a New York clinic last autumn after Evening Press readers helped raise £13,000 to pay for the trip, suffered the unexpected setback earlier this month.

But she responded well to antibiotic treatment at York District Hospital, where she praised the care she received from nurses and doctors on wards 31 and 33, as well as the support from her oncologist.

Within days of her discharge from hospital, she went with her family to the Lake District for a weekend break to celebrate the big 40.

And she says she felt so well that she even went for a four-mile hike and danced until 3am.

"I'm feeling great again," said Gail, of Hemingbrough, near Selby. "I'm keeping a daily diary of my pain levels on a score from one to ten, and today it was just one - meaning virtually no pain whatsoever."

Gail has also managed to reduce her daily morphine intake further - down to just 80 mls compared to 1,200 before her trip to the USA. Her ultimate aim is to cut out the morphine altogether. She said the septicaemia started after she suffered a stomach bug just after Christmas and an infection spread to the area around her Hickman line.

This device was inserted into a main vein in her chest wall earlier in December to enable her to receive direct infusions of nutrients, vitamins and hydrogen peroxide.

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