Help me fund private treatment for stage 4 cancer

Hi I am Lisa and I have stage 4 bowel cancer. I set up this page to build awareness, share my story and to help fund life saving treatments that otherwise I cannot access. 

I’m based in Bradford on Avon, I’m 43 and I live with my husband Sam and our 4 children Freddy, 14, Luca, 12, Kitty, 9 and Max, who is 5.

In June 2020, mid Covid pandemic, I was diagnosed with colon cancer for which I had immediate surgery (R-Hemicolectomy, which showed a T4N0M0V1 tumour). I had been largely asymptomatic except for being found to be severely anaemic earlier in the year after a blood test, and just started to develop intermittent episodes of swelling in my abdomen during the spring. After recovering from the operation I subsequently completed 6 months of chemotherapy and we hoped with all our hearts that it would be the end of our cancer journey.

Sadly this wasn’t to be, and in October 2021 we received the devastating confirmation that my cancer had spread, and is now in my peritoneum and lungs. I also found out that my tumour carries the BRAF mutation, making the cancer more aggressive and even harder to treat.

In December 2021 I began having 2 weekly chemotherapy to shrink things with the hope of surgery to follow if the tumour responded.

With a background of working for the NHS running oncology trials I have dedicated hours to research and understand the up and coming treatments, new science, standard of care in other countries, and also spent a lot of time investigating alternative treatments that we really wanted to access, however all of them come with a very hefty price tag. We started adding as many integrative practices to standard NHS care that we could, as well as looking at the treatment options available abroad that go beyond current NHS offerings that could be extremely beneficial to me. We also started to look into various clinics in other parts of the world that are offering intensive cancer treatment programmes. We desperately wanted to try these treatment options in the hope my tumour responded, however, the cost of them is incredibly high.

The target of 2022 was to stay well, stop any cancer progression and to secure surgery to remove the majority of the tumour burden from my peritoneum. The team in London were not prepared to proceed with CRS and HIPEC surgery until lung stability could be demonstrated.

This meant a full year of FOLFOXIRI - a gruelling two-weekly chemotherapy regime, plus a privately funded drug Avastin, a multitude of tablets to take daily, twice-weekly IV Vit C and weekly HBOT sessions, alongside numerous appointments with specialists and regular scans; a combination that held my cancer stable.

However, we had an unexpected call with my oncologist on the 29th December 2022. We were told that whilst the 23 cycles of FOLFOXIRI were effective initially and my metastases showed good response, the CT from November (that we were first informed was ‘nearly stable’, with no change in my lungs) had undergone further review by their in-house radiologist/MDT and was actually showing some cancer progression in the lungs, as well as the peritoneum.

This came as a complete shock. It meant the hoped for CRS operation was definitely off the cards and my next NHS option was to start the second line chemotherapy regime, which is effective for only a lucky few. We were pretty rocked by this news and change in plan. We always try very hard to stay strong and hopeful, but this time was very demanding for us all.

We decided that this was the right time to move forward with plans to go to a private clinic in Valencia, ASAP, for the innovative treatments they offer.

In January 2023 I began my treatment at the clinic in Valencia to run alongside my new Cetuximab and Encorafenib targetted treatment regime that I had started in Bath. Initially my treatment involved spending every other week at the clinic. Which although very challenging with family life we made work. The treatments have been huge and varied from targetted cancer vaccines, to a plethora of IVs all designed to restore my immune system and retrain it to recognise and hopefully destroy the cancer cells. I receive daily testing as an inpatient and my treatment is amended according to how my body responds.

I now find myself with my lowest tumour markers since diagnosis and my latest CT scan has shown stability or shrinkage of my tumours in nearly all areas, plus a PET scan has shown that my cancer is currently not very active in any area. We couldn’t be more delighted.

We have quickly realised that the clinic isn’t the one off 3 month treatment plan we initially thought it might be and that this treatment plan is ongoing. We are looking forward to plan how to make the clinic a sustainable part of our future as it continues to hold back my cancer and offers me access to all the new and innovative treatments that I cannot have here in the UK.

We soon realised that the alternative weeks in Spain were not sustainable, not only for family life, but also financially (treatment costs have been around £5000 a visit before our flights and accommodation). So I now spend 3 weeks at home and one week in Spain, and the clinic are providing me with many treatments we can continue with at home in our ‘time off’. As long as my tumour markers hold this balance it is much more manageable.

They also suggested that now my cancer burden is low it’s the optimal time to access a new and innovative patient specific cancer vaccine made from my tumour cells, that would be given over 8 months but with a price tag of €25,000. This is currently being made for me in Germany.

We also have a further back up plan to access checkpoint inhibitors that are all designed to target my cancer type.

Everything we have done has been made possible by our GoFundMe page and the amazing generosity of family, friends and charitable donors allowing me the finances to access these treatments that are saving my life.

It has been completely humbling and utterly amazing how far people have gone to help us. Due to all of the amazing kindness I currently find myself feeling the best I’ve felt in a long time. I desperately want to be able to continue on this positive path.

Any money raised on this page will only be used for treatments that I believe will offer me a chance at beating this disease. Please share. 

Surplus funds would be donated to Bowel Cancer UK.