Friends Of Ben Chatfield

Every day, a man wakes up at 5am so he can write about his deepest passions and desires.

He writes about places.
He writes about people.
He writes about tennis.

His life is full and it’s the people in it that make it so. The man is Ben, he is our friend.

 
Last spring, Ben wakes up as normal at 5am and finds that he can no longer write because the words and sentences suddenly don’t make sense.

 
By last June, our friend Ben Chatfield was diagnosed with stage 4 Glioblastoma Multiforme. The brilliant news is that 4 weeks later, his wife Victoria gave birth to their beautiful girl, Ruby Celeste. The less brilliant news is that, after many months, the chemotherapy and radiotherapy have not been able to halt the tumour’s growth and that GBM is an incredibly aggressive form of brain tumour from which most people can expect to survive for 12-15 months. Ruby will celebrate her first birthday in July. As Ben would say, “You do the math.”

Ben’s medical team have recommended that the best option left to them is to try to stabilise Ben using a drug called Avastin. The various ways it works mean that Ben’s day to day quality of life should be improved considerably and possibly make cognition clearer.

Ben’s words are, naturally, better than mine:

 “I’ve got brain cancer, which, to use a medical term, sucks. But the doctors say there’s a treatment that can help massively, if we’re quick enough - not to cure it, but at least to keep the very worst of it at bay for a while longer…"

The catch is it’s not available on the NHS and it’s not cheap. If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you know Ben. He is, amongst other things, the greatest romantic I have ever known. He is the truest, most wonderful and most loyal of friends, a great thinker and an exceptional human being. On behalf of Ben, his family and his friends, we kindly ask that you please consider making a donation to help fund Ben’s treatment so we can give him a level of independence and dignity for these coming days. 

They had the first treatment cycle yesterday and the next one is booked for a fortnight’s time. Each cycle costs £10,000. We want to give Ben, Victoria and daughter Ruby at least 6 cycles of Avastin treatment so are hoping, with your help, to raise £60,000. It's a terrifying amount but any contribution big or small would be a huge help and incredibly appreciated.

 Please feel free to share this page with anyone else who knows Ben and Victoria or whomever you think might like to help.

 We can't thank you enough.