Support for Ben and his family

Hi, I am Ami, cousin to Ben (who is more like a brother to me) and I have set up this page, with the support of our family to try and gain some financial support for Ben and his family during this time.

Ben is 33 years old. He is married to Jessica and they have 2 beautiful young children, Reggie, who is nearly 2 and Hector who is just 2 weeks old.

Ben didn’t have the greatest start in life. At just 3 years old Ben was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. Treatment began and he under went 2 years chemotherapy, he spent many months living in hospital unable to do things that every other 2, 3 ,4, 5 and 6 year old could. Unfortunately once finishing treatment he relapsed after 6 months and was then in need of a Bone Marrow Transplant to survive. Fortunately his eldest brother was a match and at the age of 6, his brother Daniel who was just 7 at the time gave Ben his bone marrow. This saved Ben’s life and he went on to live a reasonably normal childhood from there in, however because of the intense chemotherapy and radiotherapy life has not been without health challenges.

Never complaining or letting his childhood health struggles get the better of him, Ben moved down to Wittering when he was 17 to take up a 2 year apprenticeship in electrical engineering at Chichester College supported by the local company S&D Electrical to become a fully qualified electrician. He has continued to work for S&D for the past 16 years and is a well known face amongst the local community.

Unfortunately, back in May 2022 Ben became increasingly unwell, initially diagnosed and treated for Gall stones and having his gall bladder removed after 9 months of repeated long stays in hospital, numerous tests, days spent in intensive care with sepsis we received the devastating news that he has bile duct cancer. Unfortunately because he has been so unwell for such a prolonged period he has been unable to work in a normal capacity.

On 20th February 2023 Ben was admitted to Southampton hospital, just 5 days after the birth of his second child Hector. He is due to undergo major, complex surgery in the coming weeks to remove the bile duct ,head of the pancreas and the first part of the small intestine ( duodenum) this is known as The Whipple Procedure. After surgery Ben will need to undergo chemotherapy once again.

Recovery from the major surgery and chemo will be long. The consultants advise between 6-8 months recovery from the surgery alone .

With Jessica being on maternity leave and doing a fantastic job of caring for the children, a mortgage to pay and the ever increasing cost of living and inability for him to work and support his wife and 2 babies we are trying to do all we can to support them during this devastating time.

As well as this page we will also be setting up some fundraising events, details of which we will update you with on here, your support and contributions to help in relieving just some of the pressures this young family face would be gratefully received ❤️