Marks Lifesaving treatment

In September 2023, our world came crashing down when my son received a diagnosis of grade 4 glioblastoma, a rare and very aggressive incurable brain tumour. Our world ever since has been turned upside down, and we are embarking on this challenging journey we cannot face alone.

In October, Mark underwent a major brain surgery with a lot of life changing risks to remove, as much of the tumour as possible. As he consistently pushes through it to be here with his family, never showing a day of weakness. He is now receiving treatment at Withington Christie’s Hospital, which consists of daily radiation for 6 weeks and chemotherapy tablets daily.

The genetics of the tumour have come back to us as IDH wild type unmethylated. This has a very poor response to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The life expectancy is 12-14 months from diagnosis, which is devastating at the age of 44, because he won’t be here to see his children and family grow up or even make his 50th birthday!

Due to the lack of funding for brain tumours on the NHS in the UK, they are only currently funding at as little as 1%, and with limited treatment options our only options to give mark a fighting chance are to pay up to £100k privately in Germany or America, we as a family are going to pull as much as we can together.

For immunotherapy or Car T-Cell therapy (link of video to explain). Which if successful, it can add years on to his life. It’s been such a devastating time for mark and all his family and we have to try everything possible to save him. We appreciate every bit of time and any contributions no matter how small will make a significant impact on Marks battle against cancer and this is our only option to make this happen for him.

He’s currently has had to come out of work being a HGV driver due to this debilitating disease which has had a huge impact on his day to day life, especially as he loves being a provider for his wife and 3 children. In turn this has added extra stresses on top of struggling to come to terms with his diagnosis.

Mark is a very private person but the most brave soul, who dreams off any extra time he can have extra with his family. Marks greatest desire is to watch his son Tyler age 12 graduate High school, he dreams of the day he can share of the joy for prom night, standing tall like any father should, And then there’s Sam, the love of his life, with whom he envisions exchanging vows and creating a lifetime of memories with. Mark dreams of walking his daughter Chloe down the aisle, a moment he hopes to cherish one day. Mark wants the opportunity to teach his other son Lucas only 18 the art of driving, every dads dream of sharing. Time is just not in his favour right now. His spirit remains unbroken. As a parent it is heart-wrenching to witness your child endure such a battle, and we are reaching out to our community for support.

Thank you for taking time to read x

updated 21/03/24 mark has now just finished his 3rd cycle of chemotherapy.

upto now he has had tumour debulking surgery, 30 sessions of radiation and now 3 cycles of chemotherapy. His latest mri has shown a tumour of 1.4cm which sadly means the chemotherapy is not doing much at all for him. We are now pushing more than ever in what the next treatment options are for him which are minimal in the uk.