Beauly Oil tanker Raise funds for cancer treatment

I have set up this fundraising page on behalf of my brother-in-law Steven and his family so he can access the only cancer treatment that has a potential to cure him. Steven has cancer of the brain. Only about 28% of brain tumours are malignant and sadly Steven’s tumour means that his life expectancy is now minimal.

He is just 32 years old and he and his wife,(my Sister) Chloe, aged 29 have been together for over 10 years and have a little girl called Piper who is only 1 year of age. In September 2021, Steven experienced a seizure and he and Chloe received the most shattering news that he had the malignant tumour.

Following a biopsy Steven suffered a bleed on his brain and underwent emergency surgery to save his life. Unfortunately as a result he became paralysed down the right side of his body and spent three months in hospital whilst my sister was pregnant with Piper. Just before Christmas 2021 he was discharged and Chloe became his carer. She gave birth to their little girl only a couple of weeks later.

With so much love, care and support from his family Steven has made progress with learning how to walk and talk again but he won’t recover unless he has lifesaving cancer treatment. His life is currently time limited. Steven’s family are his world and he is desperate to see Piper start school, became a teenager and to be able to support her through life as she grows up. He wants more than anything to experience the life with her and for her to have her daddy with her for as long as possible.

Piper is so young and not able to understand Steven’s diagnosis or the fact that he will not be with her, and her mummy, for much longer. With this treatment we are hoping that one day they will be able to talk about it, together, many years in the future as he will still be very much here with those he loves, and who love him. As a family they have always enjoyed walking their dogs near their home in Inverness, Scotland, having family days out and simply spending time, just being together.

Steven, until his diagnosis, was healthy and employed as a driver of fuel tankers. A job he really enjoyed, misses, and is keen to return to even though the seizure that incapacitated him, resulted in his tanker crashing at the time. Although he is still relearning many life skills, Steven dedicates time to helping others by volunteering on the hospital ward where his life was saved in 2021. He supports others who receive a cancer diagnosis and with similar frightening prognoses.

Steven is currently undergoing Chemotherapy in a bid to prolong his life as much as possible, but, the tumour is inoperable meaning that his time with his family is devastatingly limited. Unfortunately the side effects of Chemotherapy are also damaging for him. Steven’s only option and hope of life with Chloe and Piper is a type of Immunotherapy that is not available on the NHS.

We need your help to reach our target, the more shares the more likely we are to reach the goal as more people will see and more donations. So if you are fortunate enough to be able to donate please do and if not please share as this is just as important.

'Progress in research into brain tumours has been slow-since 1971 there has been an overall increase in survival of less than 10% for people with a high grade brain tumour, one of the poorest improvements across all cancers' - Brain Tumour Charity

Dendritic Cell Therapy

Cell-based Immunotherapy can be the last hope for many cancer patients who have an inoperable tumour and terminal diagnosis. However, it can also be the first and last treatment needed for all cancer patients. In the UK it costs around £50,000 and following an initial consultation with a team of specialists he has been informed that he is a suitable candidate and the chances of it being successful are high. This has been the news Steven and his wife have been hoping for since 2021. A dendritic cell vaccine is a cross between a vaccine and a cell therapy. Human dendritic cells are like immune system factories and fight the cancer cells we have to stop them from developing into the life-threatening cancer as we know it. This is done using our immune system. When a ‘weakness’ occurs, and the cancer can develop, our dendritic cells can’t fight it effectively. Dendritic cell therapy changes this and gives our dendritic cells a much needed long term boost!

Vaccines are a type of immunotherapy and cancer treatment vaccines are designed to proactively treat people who already have cancer and help their body’s immune system not only recognise but actively attack and eliminate the deadly tumour cells. From Steven's own blood, a personalised vaccine using his specific tumour markers will be created and injected into his body resulting in anti-tumour immunity. This means his own immune system will recognise, fight and destroy the tumour using a process that our bodies naturally do when our immune system is working well and our dendritic cells are capable of doing their usual cancer cell fighting job on a daily basis. The success rate is high and there are also no negative side effects to this treatment. The therapy will activate his T-cells and ‘killer’ cells and destroy the cancer. Amazingly Steven's immune system will be better equipped to attack any future cancer cells for the rest of his hopefully long life.

Steven has such a positive determination to beat the cancer with his main driver being little Piper. She is his motivation to fight, push himself and beat cancer each and every day despite still experiencing the consequences of paralysis.

Please support Steven and help give hope to his family as their world has been crushed at the thought of losing him.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and please do share the fundraiser if you can across as many social media platforms as possible. The quicker he is able to start the treatment, the more successful it can be!

We are so grateful for any donations as you really are giving the possibility of life to my brother-in law and my sisters family.

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