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Gary was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in late 2021, at the age of 34. Gary’s diagnosis came as a complete shock to everyone, especially him and his wife Lizzy. After years of leading an active and healthy lifestyle (albeit with a few pizzas thrown in…) no one ever expected that Gary was about to be given such devastating news.
He was rushed to hospital after developing sepsis in October 2021. After days of scans, talks and investigations into what might be causing the infection, to our shock, Gary was told he needed surgery to remove a mass that had been found in his bowel. He was told they were 95% sure it would be nothing sinister.
Post operation, Gary and Lizzy were told that the mass in his bowel was cancerous. It was stage 4 and had spread to his omentum and surrounding lymph nodes. Gary spent weeks recovering in hospital, with several complications, and unable to have visits from his wife or family due to the Covid restrictions in place at the time.
In December 2021, he was given his first chemotherapy treatment. Gary was told he had a 60% chance of cure, but the plan was ‘curative’ nonetheless. During the initial 6 months of chemo, Gary and Lizzy’s focus was to get Gary through the life-changing side effects of his treatment, and research in depth the ways they could make sure Gary had the best possible chance of cure, including supplements, dietary and lifestyle changes.
After the craziest year of Covid lockdowns, Gary was thrown into six more months of isolation to remove any risk of catching an infection and being unable to have his life saving treatment.
After 6 months of chemo, in June 2022, scan results showed that the treatment had not worked. We were given the news no one ever wants to hear - his cancer was now incurable and he has the aggressive BRAF mutation.
Between June 2022 and January 2023, Gary underwent a further 6 months of chemo and a month of radiotherapy to attempt to control or better still, reduce the disease. He is now waiting for his next scan results.
Not giving up…
Over the last year, Gary has made it his sole focus to never give up hope and to live life to the fullest. Those close to Gary will know that he has refused to let cancer take over or ruin his life. He has worked hard on his mindset, spends more time outdoors and continues to exercise as much as he can. Gary has researched tirelessly and added to his daily routine juicing, cold therapy, fasting, breath work and meditation and will try absolutely anything that might help.
As a family we are striving towards ‘No Evidence of Disease’ for Gary, but for now the only treatment options left on the NHS are chemotherapy and a targeted BRAF treatment, both of which we are told will one day stop working. We aren’t there yet, but we want to make sure that Gary’s options for living never run out. With your help and fundraising, we have the opportunity to explore further treatments…
Immunotherapy is the future of cancer treatment. With research and treatment options advancing quickly enough, we need help funding treatments that are only accessible privately.
Bevacizumab is a cancer treatment drug, also known by its brand name Avastin. It is an anti-angiogenesis treatment which is administered alongside standard treatments. The trouble is, Avastin is not available on the NHS and costs up to £2000 per cycle.
How can you help?
By donating to Gary’s GoFundMe (below), you will be helping to fund treatments that are not available on our NHS. Please donate whatever you can, no contribution is too small, and share our GoFundMe page with friends, family and colleagues.
Click below for family and friends’ fundraisers and events and join us in supporting these where you can!
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