'FORGOTTEN' women who are battling incurable breast cancer could be given fresh hope for treatment as Oxford University is awarded almost £200,000 for research.

Oxford scientist Nicola Sibson has been awarded thousands of pounds by research charity Breast Cancer Now to uncover cutting-edge treatment for secondary breast cancer - a form of the disease which has spread to other parts of the body.

The new wave of funding in Oxford, part of £700,000 being rolled out country-wide, will focus specifically on cancer which has spread to the brain.

One patient of Oxford's Churchill Hospital, Fiona Leslie, said the funding brings hope to people like herself who are battling the 'terrifying' disease.

She said: "Secondary breast cancer is the breast cancer that kills – and many of us living with this incurable disease feel forgotten. Great progress has been made in treating breast cancer, but those of us living with secondaries are the ones who will die."

The 49-year-old, from Aylesbury, was diagnosed in November 2013 with breast cancer after noticing a 'funny mark' on her breast.

She underwent a course of chemotherapy before finding out the cancer had spread to her lungs and spine.

She has since had a mastectomy and radiotherapy, and has chemotherapy every three weeks with revolutionary drug Kadcyla helping to keep the disease at bay.

In June this year scans showed Ms Leslie's breast cancer had spread to her brain.

She said: "When you get the diagnosis that your breast cancer has reached your brain it is utterly terrifying. All you want to know is that something can be done to help. I received Whole Brain Radiotherapy in Oxford, which looks like it is helping, but to know that there may be something more effective in the future is wonderful."

She added: "It just gives us hope because we know there are so many drugs out there and so much research going on, these sorts of findings could make all the difference.

"Literally between someone's life or death."

Almost 600 women in Oxfordshire are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, and over 100 women in the region die from the it annually.

The funding announcement comes today on Secondary Breast Cancer Awareness Day which hopes to raise the profile of the disease.

Professor Sibson said: "The announcement is very exciting. We know brain metastases is a significant problem and if we can look into treating this disease more effectively then we are going to be changing a lot of people's lives."

The funding will build on early research at the university looking to pinpoint which combinations of anti-inflammatory drugs will be able to get through the brains ' virtually impenetrable' protective structure.