Help Matt Jones beat Stage 3 Bowel Cancer

Hello everyone,

We have set up this page to help enable our incredible brother, son, dad, husband and uncle Matt to beat stage 3 bowel cancer. Unfortunately he's got a long road to recovery along with just welcoming his two identical twin girls. We want to fundraise for him and his family on his road to recovery and to help with living and hospital appointment costs along the way. Any donations received would be very much appreciated and we hope to keep you updated with his progress as we face the next few months ahead.

Please read Matt’s story so far……

At the beginning of May I started to experience cramping in the stomach along with diarrhoea and nausea. So i went to the doctors the following week as i was still bound up in pain, they took bloods which indicated i had anaemia, probably through the loss of blood in my stools by this time.

By the 3rd week in May the stomach pain was still crippling along with vomiting and by this time I was unable to eat anything as the pain was so intense. My wife Nicki called for an ambulance but unfortunately there was a 10 hour wait, so my neighbour David kindly took me to A&E. After a 21 hour wait sitting in a wheelchair in the corridor I was finally admitted to Cambridge ward on 23/05/23. I went through numerous tests over that week after which I was diagnosed with colitis. On discharge it was arranged that I would have a colonoscopy appointment. This wasn't going to be until 28th June! Which meant another 4 weeks of this pain and agony.

In Between this time Nicki gave birth to our beautiful twin daughters Esme and Isla 16/06/23. This was an added distraction for me to dote on them and my two older children William and Isabelle. However their arrival wasn't as straightforward either, Isla needed resuscitation and spent 12 days in special baby care as she was so small 3lb 13oz and needed tube feeding. She has an irregular heart beat which is caused by a heart defect she is now undergoing visits at Evelina children’s hospital in London. Nicki also had to be readmitted as she became very unwell only to find out that the surgeon that performed the caesarean section had left a fair amount of the placenta behind. This journey has been a life changing time for us as a family.

On 28th June 2023 I had my colonoscopy the day my baby daughter Isla was discharged from hospital. It was good news that she was home but sadly for me they were unable to complete the procedure as a tumour was found. They took biopsies which I then had to wait for the results.

On 6th July 2023 I was told the devastating news that I had Stage 3 Bowel Cancer. I hardly had time to process this as I began to feel another lump appearing. This was then confirmed as another tumour. I was admitted to William Harvey Hospital on 11th July and underwent the bowel surgery on the 12th July. After 7 hours of surgery I was back on the ward, we are now on 3rd August and I'm still in hospital and so my story goes on.

Many thanks to the love and support of my family and friends for all the kindness shown.

I will keep you posted but there is a long way to go. I know I needed to lose some weight but maybe not in this way 4 stone is a lot to lose I now need to get stronger . If only I can fight all the infections and abscess so my chemotherapy can begin, all 6 months of it!

Thank you for reading my story, I will send updates on my forth coming progress as and when I can. Cheers Matt Jones xx