A mum who is living with kidney cancer has set up a new support group to help others fighting the disease.

Niki Ridge, 57, from Old Walcot, was diagnosed with the incurable kidney cancer two years ago and doctors told her it had spread to her lungs and bones.

She said her first symptoms were night sweats, a persistent cough and lower back pain and she went to discuss them with her GP, who referred her for tests.

Niki described the diagnosis as a ‘heck of a shock’ and decided not to tell her two sons about her cancer until she understood more about the treatment options and prognosis. 

She was told surgery would not work, as the cancer had spread, so she started a new immunotherapy treatment. 

Niki said: “When I was diagnosed they said 'don’t Google it' but that’s the first thing you’re going to do. All of the data and numbers relate to old therapies for kidney cancer. This new immunotherapy works differently to chemo. It basically trains cells in the body to fight cancer, so the side effects are much better.

“It only works on about 40 per cent of people but luckily it worked on me. I had some growths on my lungs and they went within the first 12 months of treatment, so I go once a month now.”

She said she also struggled with her mental health during her first year of treatment, but now she is surprised people with cancer can live relatively normal lives. 

“I genuinely thought I wouldn’t survive six months," he said.

“I didn’t know that people like me could exist with cancer. I kind of thought that you get it in one place, they cut it out, you have some chemo and you get better. Or cancer spreads and then you die.

"I thought that was it. And now there are more and more people like me who hopefully can live for several, if not many, years with incurable cancer.

“Now I operate at about 80 per cent, sometimes I just get a bit tired.”

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Niki has set up a monthly cancer support group with the help of Macmillan nurses and the first meeting is set to take place on Tuesday, May 14 at the Goddard Arms. 

She said: “Even if one person comes along and has a chat that they wouldn’t have had otherwise then it’s really important.”