Help John Give Cancer the Big Middle Finger

Meet John - Prior to his diagnosis he was a healthy man, just starting out married life with the love of his life Claire.  He is an amazing uncle to his nephews Benjamin, Josh, Isaac, Finley and niece Freya.  He is a loving son to Sandra & Peter, big brother to sister Lauren. To John family is everything, we do BBQ's together all summer long, make big Sunday roasts and all sit around the table together talking.



We had family holidays all the time, which extended family would join us. John loves to watch rugby with our dad and talk all sorts of stuff, that's their bonding time. 

Before 2018, John suffered with IBS and managed his flare ups, however, things started to change in 2018/2019, the symptoms started to change, he noticed blood when he went to the toilet and started loosing weight quite drastically. After numerous visits to the doctors and the doctor saying he was simply suffering with IBS, it was time to start putting his foot down and making demands. His symptoms were looked at in much greater detail. In September 2020 John pushed for a colonoscopy. This did not happen until January 2021 which revealed the most devastating news - a mass in his bowel. He was by this time, stage 4 bowel cancer that had now travelled to his liver as well.

 

The Oncologist told John if he didn't start treatment immediately, he had less than 10 weeks to live.

 

John's treatment started in March 2021. Things were going well, he was responding to the chemotherapy, but then we were told the news that John's treatment stopped working before Christmas 2021 leaving very little options.

 

Before John's diagnosis he had taken out a life insurance policy who have since refused to help pay for private treatment, because he was being treated for IBS and that was their excuse, they refused to pay out so that was that option out the window.

 

The Consultant started John on his original chemo Dec 2021, telling him it only has a 25% chance of working. 

 

However most recently in March 2022, his consultant said it was very unlikely that John would see the end of this year. This sad news has devastated the whole family. 

The NHS cannot afford to fund alternative treatment so the only option left is to travel abroad whilst he still can or private treatment in the UK.  Alternative treatments in the UK are quite limited but not out of the question. Possibly best options are private overseas treatments such as Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) or anything that could possibly help him.

After assessing the options if PBT is not suitable we will then explore all avenues until we find the right treatment for him.

What is PBT? Proton therapy, also known as proton beam therapy, is a form of radiation treatment used to destroy tumour cells. Instead of using x-rays like regular radiation treatment, it uses protons to sends beams of high energy that can target tumours more precisely than x-ray radiation.

Due to the aggressive nature of the illness and the late stages of the cancer, we are really racing against the clock to get John this life-preserving treatment. If the treatment is as successful as expected, this will impact John massively. We hope it will give him back the quality of life he had before diagnosis and we hope it will extend his life expectancy from weeks to years, John has a lot to live for still and would want to watch his niece and nephews grow up, and if possible him and his wife Claire would like to be able to start a family of their own as this sadly has been put on hold while John gives this his best fight. 

Sadly, John's story is not unique - there are hundreds if not thousands of cancer patients around the world all fighting to get the best treatment available.  As well as in John's case, hundreds of thousands of people a year are misdiagnosed and are left untreated until it's too late. There are not enough resources in the world to help everyone, but we are asking that you help give John that fighting chance, £42,500 is an estimate of 1 round of PBT.  Any donations would be massively appreciated, no matter how small, and will go a long way in helping John.

Thank you for reading John's story.