As far as traditional medicine is concerned, cancer sufferer Lucy Pitt is dying.

But Lucy, 38, who is married with two young daughters, believes alternative therapies have kept her alive.

Paying for them is draining the family finances and relatives are helping out, some with fund-raising events.

Her sister, Susannah Standring, 36, is doing a sky-dive parachute jump to raise more money and she is appealing for sponsors.

Susannah said: "Even people we don't know are giving money. It is all worthwhile. Lucy looks so good."

Lucy, who lives with her family in Clyde Road, Brighton, is a furniture restorer by profession and was taking an art foundation course at Brighton College of Technology when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in April last year.

She underwent radiotherapy and chemotherapy at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton but the cancer grew back.

She was referred to the Royal Marsden Hospital in London but tell-tale swellings in lymph glands suggested the cancer was spreading. Surgery was ruled out and she turned down more chemotherapy.

Lucy had received palliative treatment, which can include morphine for pain, but she did not react well and turned down an offer of more.

She said alternative or complementary treatments had more than filled the void.

Her first breakthrough was the success of a homeopathic remedy to overcome fear.

Lucy said: "I was so afraid I thought I would go insane. I would pace the house all night and I remember thinking that dying seemed an easy option.

"My homeopath gave me fear remedies and they have made such a difference. I told her on one occasion 'You have saved my life'."

Lucy now uses a host of alternative therapies including meditation, visualisation, psychology of vision, a psychic surgeon and acupuncture, which eases her pain from the cancer and her feeling of nausea.

Her husband, Marco, a 46-year-old furniture restorer and designer, said: "Lucy arrives home a completely different person. She feels well again."

Lucy, mother of daughters Luka, ten, and Stella, nine, said even her GP was amazed. "He read my notes and was staggered at how well I was and looked.

"I know these alternatives will not necessarily cure me but it is helping me cope and something is working."

Lucy said she took every day as it came and admitted there were times when she broke down. "I have some days when I just can't stop crying. The family will find me in bed and they join me.

"One oncologist told me positive thinking doesn't work and diet doesn't make any difference. But I am living proof of the contrary.

"I don't know whether I will make it to Christmas but I do know they are helping me live every day.

"Without them I would be withdrawn, depressed and in a lot of pain."

A spokeswoman for East Sussex, Brighton and Hove Health Authority confirmed there was no funding for alternative treatments.

She said: "We have a Sussex-wide cancer network and we know some patients value complementary treatments. However, at the moment, our existing resources are needed by the NHS in Sussex to meet targets in the national cancer plan, covering orthodox prevention, treatment and cure programmes."