Geoff vs Cancer 2

Hi, my name is Geoff... I'm fundraising for overseas cancer therapy.

As I think back to 2021, the year had started very well. I had a loving family and an excellent job with colleagues I enjoyed working with. The past years of working hard and planning were paying off... the future was bright.

Near to my 40th Birthday I got the first warning signals that all was not right and my suspicions proved correct as a visit to the colorectal clinic at Kingston Hospital would confirm that things had changed.

I was diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer, which had metastasized in the liver.

I remember being more fearful for my family than myself...I mean I'm super-Geoff, nothing can bring me down....hmmm.

The synopsis of the following 19 Months is:

Epigenetic testing to gauge cellular functionality

Tumour sensitivity tests to find out what agents would be effective against my tumour

Lipid Transfer therapy IV's to repair the cells.

These gave scientific insight into what the main issues were and some weaponry how to fight it.

My body was healthier, but a scan would show disease progression, this meant I would need to start chemotherapy to save my liver.

Around December and after 5 cycles of Panatumimab, things were looking up and my blood tumour markers had gone down, it was decided to get me in for major liver surgery to have a third of my liver removed.

Hooray! The surgery went well and I was assured by the doctor that all had gone to plan.

I was elated as this was the first bit of good news in some time. Also, around this time the medical team started getting me ready for radiotherapy which was going to be used on my colon. I had radio markers tattooed for the laser alignment.

It wasn't to be and another scan would show disease progression, there were additional tumours in the liver....Rats! I guess I wasn't quite there yet.

I was put back on chemotherapy for 4 x cycles of Oxylaplatin, well known for neuropathy (pins and needles in severe temperature sensitivity.) Thank goodness it wasn't Winter...yet.

From the start my body did not tolerate the chemotherapy at all. The nausea was so bad I would spend my time in the bathroom whilst having the chemo infusion....not pretty at all.

The side effects are bad, I mean really bad...but they are survivable so long as the treatment works. The problem is that this was not working, blood work showed my tumour markers had increased.

STOP EVERYTHING, REGROUP, REVERSE, RE-EVALUATE

Nobody enjoys confronting his own mortality...Super-Geoff would rise again....surely? (Yes...but don't call me Shirley)

I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet.

I needed a new approach, something that works this time.

When I was first diagnosed with cancer, I looked into many different therapies and I tried to quantify what was most likely to succeed. I had seen an article about Dendritic cell therapy and I liked the science behind it. The problem at the time is that it is not cheap and few countries offer this as it's still in it's infancy.

The idea behind this is drawing out 200ml of blood, having a lab program your T-cells to seek out the cancer, and to have 1 injection (vaccine)

The cost of the treatment is £17k which would cover 1 dose. The hopes are that 1 dose will be enough, but I would only know 3 months after this when I get another scan.

This must be the solution for me as my immune system needs a giant kick up the backside to help it find the cancer.

Thank you for reading and please wish me luck.

Geoff