Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio help save cancer mum who refused life-saving drugs to give birth

A woman, who was told she had six to 12 months to live, has revealed how Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio saved her life.

Speaking to The Mirror, Gemma Nuttall said the Titanic actors went out of their way to help her raise money for her £300,000 ($423,000) treatment. She said the duo raised money by auctioning off three date nights called "Jack and Rose", named after their characters from their 1997-hit movie.

"I can't thank Kate [Winslet] enough. Without her donations, and the public's, my story would be very different. We thought it was a wind-up, but then she called and I realised she was serious," she told the publication.

"I was so nervous but she asked me how I was feeling and how my ­treatment was going – she wanted to help. I told her I could never thank her enough and she told me not to be daft. She said she had read about my story online, that she had three kids of her own and had thought about what she would be like in that position. She said: 'I just felt that urge to reach out to you, I knew that I wanted to help'."

In 2013, Nuttall was told she had aggressive ovarian cancer while she was pregnant with her baby girl. She was advised to terminate her pregnancy and take life-saving drugs. She refused to take the drugs and gave birth to her daughter Penelope, who is now three years old.

After giving birth to Penelope in March 2014, Nuttall underwent six months of chemotherapy. She was cancer-free for more than a year but the disease returned. She went through more chemotherapy sessions but was told nothing could be done, with doctors giving her six to 12 months to live.

Nuttall's mother Helen Sproates did not give up hope. She had read about the immunotherapy available at the Hallwang Clinic in Germany and started a fundraising page to help her daughter get the treatment.

Last May, Nuttall flew to Germany to avail of the treatment after some money was collected. Sproates even sold off her house for her daughter's treatment but that was not enough to pay the medical bills.

In July, Winslet heard about the plight of Nuttall and decided to help her. Nuttall is now cancer-free after undergoing the life-saving treatment at the German "wonder clinic".