Never underestimate the healing properties of a good time.
For anyone who knows Chris, you'll know that this phrase encapsulates perfectly the special environment in which so many friendships and lifelong memories have been forged around him and the spirit he continues to bring to the occasion.
The reality is, though, that for the past 3 years, he's been quietly navigating stage 3 kidney cancer, and more recently, a Type One Diabetes diagnosis as a direct result of the very treatment he's been undergoing to treat the cancer.
He's dealt with it all incredibly bravely, verging on zen at times. Chris isn't someone who finds it easy to ask for assistance, but in all honesty, it's got to the point where he really needs it, so we're doing it for him.
We want to do what we can at this point, and we know lots of you will too, so we thought it's about time we got this all out clearly for all his friends to understand the whole picture. Understandably, he's not always the best at relaying what is actually going on with his health!
How You Can Help:
Chris has shown extraordinary courage and a depth of resolve that continues to inspire us all as he and his family fight through this. But even the strongest people need a little help sometimes.
We're asking you for your support - to help him continue accessing the best possible care, to ease the financial weight, and to give him the space and strength to focus on healing. We know times are extraordinarily tough, so whether you can donate, share his story, or simply send a message of support - it all matters more than you can imagine.
Here's a bit of backstory which has been helpful for us to get to grips with all of it:
In late 2022, Chris noticed something wasn't right. A scan soon revealed a large mass on his left kidney. By January 2023, he was diagnosed with Stage 3 chromophobe renal cell carcinoma - a rare form of kidney cancer. By the time it was discovered, the tumour had already grown to 10cm and spread to nearby lymph nodes. Urgent surgery followed in March 2023, where his kidney and the affected lymph nodes were removed. Follow-up tests brought devastating news: around 30% of the tumour had mutated into a more aggressive cancer - sarcoma - putting Chris on a "high-risk of
recurrence" path.
Just three months later, scans confirmed that the cancer had returned, yet this time, it was spreading faster. Chris began an intense two-year course of immunotherapy, with bi-monthly infusions, daily oral treatments, and a long list of side effects that have tested his resilience in ways few could imagine.
In the very same consultation where he learned his cancer had returned, Chris and his wife were told that the treatment ahead would leave him infertile. Overnight, they had to begin fertility preservation - a decision that no one should have to make in such a moment.
Where Things Stand Now:
Two years on, recent scans show the cancer is technically stable - not spreading, but not shrinking either. For most, stability would sound like relief, but anyone living with cancer knows it's a precarious peace.
And just as they began to settle into this uneasy rhythm, another brutal blow occurred: a fall led to an emergency hospital visit, where doctors discovered his blood sugar at a dangerously high level. Immunotherapy, the very treatment meant to suppress his cancer, induced a rare side effect that destroyed his pancreas and now left him living with Type One Diabetes too. Once again, he's taken it in a much calmer way than we could have managed, fair play to him, but really another devastating blow.
It's this combination - cancer and now diabetes - that's created an almost impossible strain to live with. Not only physically and emotionally, but financially too.
Why We Are Asking For Help:
While the NHS does its best to cover Chris's core medical care, so much of what truly improves quality of life and long-term outcomes sits outside its reach: things like advanced diagnostics, specialist nutrition, integrative oncology consultations, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, IV vitamin infusions, and even the cost of cancer-supportive diets, supplements and advice.
The list is endless and overbearing. Chris has been funding these treatments himself for the past two years, spending between £300 and £1,200 a month, using savings that he and Sarah had set aside for their future. But those funds have now run out.
His emerging brilliant business: ACMH - which so many of you know, love and indeed wear - is still in its early stages, and while he continues to work through it all, his income barely covers day-to-day costs, let alone the mounting price of care.
Chris now needs access to advanced diagnostic testing that can help map out his next step - personalised, data-driven therapies that offer hope when options feel limited. These tests, treatments, and consultations are expensive - but they could genuinely change his path entirely and provide that much-needed hope for a brighter future.
With love, thank you for helping our dear friend Chris. It means a lot.