A Cumbrian plant hire company will help a student tick off learning to drive a digger from her bucket list on Saturday.
Waitings, which is based in Penrith and has other sites across the county, is helping Laura Nuttall, 21, who has a brain tumour.
He mum has launched an £80,0000 campaign for pioneering treatment in Germany in the hope of extending her life.
Laura has created a bucket list and Waitings said it was delighted to help.
Waitings director Victoria Waiting died from an aggressive brain tumour aged 44 in 2016.
Event organiser Sophie Waiting said: “Before my sister-in-law Victoria died, she had a digger sprayed pink and donated a percentage of all its profits to cancer charities.
“This year’s will go to Laura.
“We are certain that Victoria would be very proud to be supporting the Nuttall family – with love from an amazing lady who didn’t make it, to an amazing lady who is helping The Brain Tumour Charity raise so much awareness about brain tumours.
“Laura went to school with our daughters and she is truly inspirational. She and her beautiful family are sharing their findings and research and giving so much support and hope to other people.”
Laura has already ticked off driving a tube train, HGV, bus and motorbike from her bucket list and will be adding digger driving when she has her lesson on Saturday at the CTV site compound site in Dearham in West Cumbria.
She also been on safari in South Africa, watched Saturday Night Live being filmed in New York, met Michelle Obama and fished with Paul Whitehouse and Bob Mortimer.
Laura, a second year politics, philosophy and economics student at Manchester University was diagnosed with a glioblastoma in autumn 2018, just weeks after starting at Kings College London.
She put her symptoms down to fresher’s flu, but a routine eye test led to her devastating diagnosis of several brain tumours.
After surgery to remove the largest tumour on November 7 2018, biopsy results revealed the devastating news that Laura had a glioblastoma, which has an average prognosis of 12-18 months.
Laura – who is a Young Ambassador for The Brain Tumour Charity and voted its Influencer of the Year 2020 – then underwent gruelling chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Since then she has undergone more treatment and started travelling regularly to Cologne for immunotherapy not available on the NHS paid for by the family’s fund https://www.doingitforlaura.com/ which raised nearly £160,000.
A routine scan revealed regrowth of Laura’s tumour in March and now the family need to raise another £80,000 so she continue the innovative treatment.
Laura’s mum Nicola said: “ Laura had a second surgery at the end of March and now the plan is for two further dendritic cell vaccinations and a course of a checkpoint inhibitor called Pembrolizumab. None of this is available on the NHS of course so we are faced with the enormous challenge of raising a further £80,000.
“We appreciate that Laura’s had a great deal of support already and we’re so grateful to everyone that has raised funds for her. I don’t think she’d be here without it and her role
“As a Young Ambassador with The Brain Tumour Charity, who have given us amazing support, her studying and community work have given her a real purpose.
“We are so sorry for the Waitings’ loss of Victoria to this cruel disease and are incredibly touched and grateful they are helping to raise money for Laura’s treatment in her memory.”
