Brendon Barnes Cancer Fight

This is a plea for help from all our family and friends, cousins, friends of friends, or anyone else who wishes to help.

Brendon Barnes is fighting the sort of fight that fills most people with fear. It seems inevitable that Brendon's two young children will grow up without their father, and Kara will be left without her husband and best friend, and only memories. We hope that this will make their journey a little easier.

Last year Brendon was diagnosed with a very rare aggressive cancer after a work accident, Thymic Carcinoma, he then had 2 major operations to remove it that took a huge toll on his health.

They also took out one phrenic nerve, the phrenic nerve is a nerve that originates in the neck and passes down between the lung and heart to reach the diaphragm. It's important for breathing, as it passes motor information to the diaphragm and receives sensory information from it.

He has been left with 20% less breathing capacity.

After spending 5 weeks in hospital, 2 of those in intensive care, he came home only to find out not long after that he had 13 more tumours in his right lung. He underwent very aggressive chemotherapy to destroy them, and it worked on 12 of them, but there was one stubborn one that kept growing.

He had chemotherapy for about four months, but both during and after his chemotherapy had finished he was always short of breath. He had a heart scan to show what was happening, and it showed that his heart was deteriorating. They then put him on heart medication that is supposed to improve his heart, but has to have another scan to see if the medication is working.

The doctors have given him 1 to 2 months to live if the medication does not work. They will keep trialling him with other drugs, but there is still no guarantee for him to live a long life.

Brendon has a partner that has stuck with him through all of this.

Her name is Kara Parkinson and she has been his rock. She has given him 2 beautiful sons, 6 year old Bayli who has autism, and is the most beautiful, caring, funny boy you could know, and 4 year old Marli, who is a mini version of Brendon.

A few weeks ago Kara asked Brendon to marry him and he said yes, so on the 6th of April at 1pm at Werribee south beach, they will share with all their friends and family their love for each other.

For those who don't really know Brendon he is one of the funniest people you will ever meet, he's a wonderful dad a loving partner and a great friend to have.

Most of us have been touched by a close friend or family member who has cancer, or knows of someone who has.

I'm sure you can all understand the devastating impact both emotionally and financially that this has on the persons directly involved, please if you can, any donation would be greatly appreciated by not only Brendon and Kara, Bayli and Marli, but also the family and friends of the Barnes family.

If anyone is having trouble donating, they can contact me direct and make a donation via bank transfer, and I can then add their name and message and amount donated in the list for all to see.