Billys "Back on my own 2 feet" fund
Donation protected
Billy was diagnosed with bone cancer, a 10 cm Sarnovia Sarcoma aggressive tumour in the top of his right femur on November 14th 2014, 15 days before his 20th Birthday.
His femur broke through the stress of the tumour on December 1st 2014 making him bed bound in Addenbrookes hospital for 8 weeks. He underwent two sets of high dosage chemotherapy treatments in the hope of reducing the tumour and to ensure it had not spread further with the hope of having a half hip and femur replacement to save his life and leg at a later stage.
Results on Tuesday 14th January 2015 were not as we had hoped, the Sarcoma is a more aggressive cancer than originally thought and although the cancer had started to die from the centre, it had not reduced in size but thankfully had not spread. Billy’s only chance of surviving was to have an immediate full leg and half hip amputation which took place in Birmingham on Wednesday 21st January 2015.
Consultants informed us that Billy would spend the rest of his life on crutches or in a wheelchair as the NHS are unable to fund a prosthetic limb for an amputation of this kind but, we could enable him to walk again if we are to fund it privately once the scar has healed and settled in 9-12 months.
Having researched endlessly we have found a prosthetic limb and a UK clinic that are able to give Billy his life back again. The ‘Helix 3D’ leg and hip prosthetic will be an initial cost of £70,000 with 5 yearly servicing and part replacements each time costing £18,500. We want to ensure once Billy has the limb he does not have the added worry of replacement parts going forward
Billy was months away from finishing his 3 year Electrician’s apprenticeship before diagnosis. His college course has been placed on hold during rehabilitation and as soon as he is ready they are committed to let him take his final exam and pass with flying colours. His work is currently keeping his job open for him. He still has further chemotherapy sessions to endure and during his recovery, we are told to expect Billy to experience grief and depression. Our aim is to achieve this goal and give him hope and something positive to focus on to boost his recovery.
As parents we want to see our courageous son continue with his work plans, walk down the aisle, have his first dance, take his children to the park....the list goes on.
Billy amongst a lot of things has said he will never go out with his mates again,take his girlfriend to a restaurant due to body image; again the list goes on and breaks our heart. We will do everything we can to ensure his life will not change.
We really need your help please. Any donation is very gratefully received towards reaching our target of £70,000. If we are lucky enough to exceed this the remainder will be used for future replacement limb parts and his re-habilitation.
As Billy will be the only beneficiary of all the funds raised, "Billy's back on his own 2 feet Fund" is not eligible for formal charitable status at the moment. This means that we are not eligible for charity giving websites like JustGiving. However, donations can be made online at GoFundMe. A separate bank account and records are being maintained and we are using the guidelines for charities in the way we fundraise and account for money.
His femur broke through the stress of the tumour on December 1st 2014 making him bed bound in Addenbrookes hospital for 8 weeks. He underwent two sets of high dosage chemotherapy treatments in the hope of reducing the tumour and to ensure it had not spread further with the hope of having a half hip and femur replacement to save his life and leg at a later stage.
Results on Tuesday 14th January 2015 were not as we had hoped, the Sarcoma is a more aggressive cancer than originally thought and although the cancer had started to die from the centre, it had not reduced in size but thankfully had not spread. Billy’s only chance of surviving was to have an immediate full leg and half hip amputation which took place in Birmingham on Wednesday 21st January 2015.
Consultants informed us that Billy would spend the rest of his life on crutches or in a wheelchair as the NHS are unable to fund a prosthetic limb for an amputation of this kind but, we could enable him to walk again if we are to fund it privately once the scar has healed and settled in 9-12 months.
Having researched endlessly we have found a prosthetic limb and a UK clinic that are able to give Billy his life back again. The ‘Helix 3D’ leg and hip prosthetic will be an initial cost of £70,000 with 5 yearly servicing and part replacements each time costing £18,500. We want to ensure once Billy has the limb he does not have the added worry of replacement parts going forward
Billy was months away from finishing his 3 year Electrician’s apprenticeship before diagnosis. His college course has been placed on hold during rehabilitation and as soon as he is ready they are committed to let him take his final exam and pass with flying colours. His work is currently keeping his job open for him. He still has further chemotherapy sessions to endure and during his recovery, we are told to expect Billy to experience grief and depression. Our aim is to achieve this goal and give him hope and something positive to focus on to boost his recovery.
As parents we want to see our courageous son continue with his work plans, walk down the aisle, have his first dance, take his children to the park....the list goes on.
Billy amongst a lot of things has said he will never go out with his mates again,take his girlfriend to a restaurant due to body image; again the list goes on and breaks our heart. We will do everything we can to ensure his life will not change.
We really need your help please. Any donation is very gratefully received towards reaching our target of £70,000. If we are lucky enough to exceed this the remainder will be used for future replacement limb parts and his re-habilitation.
As Billy will be the only beneficiary of all the funds raised, "Billy's back on his own 2 feet Fund" is not eligible for formal charitable status at the moment. This means that we are not eligible for charity giving websites like JustGiving. However, donations can be made online at GoFundMe. A separate bank account and records are being maintained and we are using the guidelines for charities in the way we fundraise and account for money.
Organizer
Jane Lee
Organizer
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