A YOUNG cancer sufferer has been given the devastating news that more tumours have been found on her spine and in her brain.

Gemma Feeney, aged 28, of Deane, learned last week that scans had revealed more tumours on her spine, and a shadow on her brain could be another cancerous growth.

But brave Gemma, whose plight inspired local people to raise £100,000 to fund her treatment, is refusing to give up hope and is now looking into the possibility of having pioneering cyberknife surgery.

She said: "I was told last year that I was terminally ill, and I'm still here and feeling great, so this definitely isn't going to get me down.

"I'm definitely not giving up hope, that's just not me.

"I've always had a positive outlook, and so have my family. What's the point of sitting about and feeling sorry for yourself?

"My mum is my tower of strength, and I don't know what I would have done without her."

Gemma, who still has £70,000 of her fighting fund left, has already been in contact with the Cromwell Hospital in London - the only place in the country to offer the procedure - but does not yet know if she is eligible for the treatment.

Cyberknife surgery is a non-invasive procedure which uses a combination of robotics and image-guidance technology to deliver precisely targeted doses of radiation to tumours.

Gemma's problems first started in the summer of 2002, when severe headaches and other symptoms eventually led to the diagnosis of a brain tumour.

Seven-and-a-half hours of brain surgery, six weeks of radiotherapy and four weeks of chemotherapy were used to combat the tumour, and for a while it looked as if she had beaten the cancer.

But in May, 2004, she developed severe back pain, and rare tumours were found on her spine.

She has been having chemotherapy in tablet form ever since.