A KIELDER woman has paid tribute to the people who donated to her cause to save her life.

Carrie Beckwith-Fellows suffers from Ehlers Danlos Syndrom, and needed £100,000 to pay for life-saving surgery in Barcelona.

Her mobility, memory, and sight had been badly affected by the condition and the surgery to fuse her spine, which is not available on the NHS was her only hope.

With just £5,000 raised by April, things looked bleak – but thanks to efforts of friends, family, and the kindness of strangers, her campaign was finally successful on Monday, just hours after she arrived in Spain for her surgery. The journey was complicated by the fact that Carrie’s condition had deteriorated to the point where she was unable to reach Barcelona by plane.

As a result, Carrie’s landlord drove all the way from the Shetland Islands to Barcelona, picking up Carrie and her wife Lisa on the way, with the journey taking a total of 44 hours.

More than 1,200 people have donated to Carrie’s fund, and the campaign has seen Carrie and Lisa sell many of their possessions and furniture.

After the target was reached on Monday, Carrie took to Facebook to thank everyone who had donated.

Carrie said: “Just woke up to this. Incredible. I will never have the words to express how thankful and grateful I am to each and every one of you for saving my life.”

Reaching the £100,000 mark means that Carrie will have both the surgery to fuse the top of her spine, which will stop it collapsing and crushing her brainstem, as well as the surgery for her lower spine.

This will fix her damaged spinal chord and improve her quality of life. Carrie’s fund stood at £55,000 two weeks before the deadline, but some large, anonymous donations helped her reach the target.

A donation of £16,500 was made on August 24, followed by donations of £5,000 and £2,000 from anonymous sources this week.

Carrie is booked in to have the high risk surgery this morning, before beginning a long recovery period.