# Crowdfunding campaigns for cancer treatments see seven-fold increase on JustGiving in a year

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/02/09/crowdfunding-campaigns-cancer-treatments-see-seven-fold-increase-justgiving-in-year/
- Published: 2017-02-09T08:30:08+00:00
- Author: Melanie May

**The number of cancer patients turning to crowdfunding to pay for life-saving medical
treatments that are not available on the National Health Service has risen dramatically,
according to JustGiving figures.**

The [JustGiving](https://home.justgiving.com/) figures were given to BBC5 earlier
this month and show that in 2016, cancer patients or their friends and families 
set up 2,348 appeals. This is a seven-fold (672%) rise on the number of appeals 
created in 2015 (304).

The total amount raised last year saw an eight-fold increase. More than £4.5m (£
4,670,143) was crowdfunded for the cancer treatments abroad – an eight-fold (780%)
increase on 2015 (£530,519).

## Advertisement

According to JustGiving’s figures, the USA, Germany and Mexico were the most popular
destinations for treatment last year. Over a fifth of those looking for treatment(
404 people) raised £1,393,490 in donations to travel to the States for their care,
a 1,595% increase from 2015.

Germany was second with 142 people crowdfunding £368,530 (a 461% increase from 2015),
and 23 people raised £69,660 to travel to Mexico for treatment (a 224% increase 
from 2015).

The most popular treatment crowdfunded for was immunotherapy. 136 people raised 
£599,652 in 2016 for this procedure (an average of £4,409 each) compared to only
six people raising £7,583 in 2015 (a 7,808% increase from 2015).

Charles Wells, chief operations officer for JustGiving, said:

> “Over the last twelve months we’ve seen more and more people crowdfunding on JustGiving
> to raise money for cancer treatments that aren’t available on the NHS. It can 
> be a practical way for friends, family and the community to come together and 
> help, as well as providing a lifeline for people by giving them access to pioneering
> treatments when they’ve been given a cancer diagnosis.”

![Loading](https://fundraising.co.uk/wp-content/plugins/page-views-count/ajax-loader-
2x.gif)