AN APPEAL has been launched to try to raise thousands of pounds to help a mum-of-four after she was told her cancerous brain tumour was inoperable in Scotland.

Trudie Murphy is hoping to fly out to the USA for treatment which could see the tumour removed.

She was given the horrible news last week that specialists in Scotland would be unable to remove the cancerous tumour, while chemotherapy was also not an option.

Doctors have said that she could receive radiotherapy but it would be as a last resort to extend her life.

Now, a close friend, Colin Rillie-Caldwell, has launched an online appeal looking to raise more than £60,000, which would be used to cover the cost of treatment.

Trudie, who works part-time in Tranent’s Asda store, admitted to the Courier she was “pessimistic” but would love the money to be raised to give her extra time with her children.

She said: “I would love to see it happen, to be able to be around for my kids – that is my sole driving force.

“This GoFundMe page, I feel embarrassed because I feel like it is begging but I thought: ‘I am literally begging for people to save my life so that I am here for my kids.’

“Right now, I just feel like somebody has put a plastic bag over my head and is slowly tightening it and I cannot breathe.

“It is the last thing you think about at night and the first thing you think about in the morning.

“You automatically think you would have it removed and have chemotherapy but to be told that you cannot, that they will not go in and do anything…”

The Tranent mum had been referred to hospital for brain and spinal MRIs after it was thought she had MS (Multiple Sclerosis).

However, the scans showed it was worse than first thought, with Trudie, who is mum to Josh (17) and Naomi (15), who attend Ross High School, Zak (11), who will be starting at Knox Academy Meadowpark, and eight-year-old Archie, who attends Sanderson’s Wynd Primary School, in Tranent, saying she “felt numb” after being told she had an inoperable brain tumour.

A biopsy and chemotherapy have both been ruled out by experts due to the location of the tumour.

She said: “They don’t know how aggressive it is because they cannot do the biopsy.

“They were throwing everything at me – there are 150 types of brain cancer. They don’t know how quick it is going to grow.

“I’ve been told I will start to have epileptic fits, I will lose my mobility and even simple things like swallowing I will be unable to do.”

With options on the NHS limited, Trudie and her husband Dave, who tied the knot 19 months ago, are looking at the possibility of travelling to America or other countries for treatment.

Trudie, who has lived in Tranent for about eight years after previously living in Musselburgh, where she attended the town’s secondary school, said a hospital in America could use a needle “as thin as a hair” to take a biopsy, while the possibility of operating on the tumour had not been ruled out.

Unfortunately, that would mean raising thousands of pounds to cover expensive medical bills.

Friends and family rallied round for the online appeal, with more than £3,000 already raised.

Trudie, 36, encouraged people to get in touch with raffle prizes for a future fundraiser and said: “People can surprise you.

“It is not always the people you are closest to that reach out but people I have not spoken to for a while that reach out to you.

"There are strangers I have never met that are donating money to somebody that they don’t know, especially just now because of lockdown.

“Everybody has been affected by this financially one way or another and I certainly did not expect to get over £1,000.”

Dave, who works as a residential childcare worker in Ormiston, described the news as “devastating”.

He told the Courier: “It is hard to put it into words.

"She is so young, has so much to give and has so much to look forward to for this to potentially take her away, knowing potentially that something can be done – there are no words.”

To support Trudie, go to gofundme.com/f/treatment-for-trudie