A Gift for Gav: Standing up to brain cancer!

Hello everyone!

Firstly, I want to thank you all for finding this page, clicking on the link and taking the time to read our story.

My name is Natalie and I am fundraising for specialist multimodal immunotherapy treatment in a desperate attempt to continue fighting my husband's stage four brain cancer, and keep a devoted dad with his boys and his family where he belongs.

We are standing up to brain cancer!!

Gav was only 35-years old when he was diagnosed with Glioblastoma IDH Wild-Type (primary stage 4 brain cancer) last year after experiencing his first seizure in May 24, and was subsequently given less than 12-months to live. Sadly, adding to the already 'bleak' prognosis, we also received the news that Gav's tumour tissue had 'unmethylated' MGMT status, meaning that his cancer would not respond to the only standard of care (SOC) treatments available to him on the NHS. "I need to be clear that you have months, not years." were the words of his neuro-oncologist at the time, and the words that will always haunt me.

Fast forward 13-months and Gav is still with us, well, able to enjoy time with his four young children, and with everything still to live and fight for. Gav has endured rigorous treatments over the last year including 3 x surgeries, 30 sessions of radiotherapy, and multiple rounds of different chemotherapies. Sadly, as expected, none of these treatments worked and growth continued to appear on Gav's MRI scans.

Since August last year we have raised an incredible £65,000+, and since December, this has facilitated Gav's access to specialist multimodal immunotherapy every 4-6 weeks at a specialist immunotherapy clinic in Germany and has come with the addition of a concurrent off-label medication and supplement protocol to target different growth pathways of Gav's particular cancer histology. I want to say a huge thank you to each and every one of you who have helped us raise this money. Gav would not be here without you, our boys wouldn't have their daddy, and I wouldn't have my husband, my best friend, my childhood sweetheart. Our family would be shattered. I am devastated to say: our funds have now run dry.

We DESPERATELY need your help to continue accessing this treatment: Gav's life depends on it!

As a young family; we have watched this treatment improve Gav's quality of life, reduce his seizure activity, enhance his immune response, reduce the swelling on his brain and slow down the growth of his cancer. We have not yet reached the vaccination stage and don't yet know the longevity that this treatment will give us, however, we have now surpassed Gav's prognosis, and have had the pleasure of connecting with others from the UK, who are fundraising and accessing treatment at the same clinic in Germany, for the same diagnosis who are 3+ years into their journey. This gives us something invaluable, something we do not have here in our home country: it gives us HOPE!

Each visit to the clinic is unique, with elements of the treatment being tailored to Gav's fluctuating needs, but with the cost of each treatment/visit costing between £10,000-£28,000 we are living each day with fear and uncertainty, not knowing if we will raise enough money for each consecutive block of treatment. For reference; we are due to go to Germany for Gav's next block of immunotherapy on 29th June, but the stark reality is that we do not yet have the funds to facilitate this as the initial 'momentum' for donations has stagnated and our cash flow has come to a grounding halt. We know that these funds can be raised, because we have seen it done by so many others in significantly shorter time frames, but in order to do the same we desperately need your help.

Gav is widely known as a family man, a grafter, a loyal friend and colleague, and has always worked hard, dedicating his skills to the construction industry his entire adult life. He amazes us all every day with his resilience, strength and positive mental attitude in the most horrific circumstances, and is an amazing role model to our four young boys Oscar (13), Lucas (11), Miles (5) and Evan (4). He has always been a hands on and devoted father, and deserves so much more than the devastating hand that he has been dealt in this life. Imagine that this is your husband, son, brother, friend. Now imagine the lengths you would go to in order to try and save, and improve/maintain their quality of life. Imagine the wide community reach you need a response from to give you a fighting chance of achieving it. Please, please join us in our fight against this vicious and undiscriminating disease, and help us keep my incredible and so deserving husband with our young family, as well as possible, for as long as possible.

Please donate as much or as little as you can. If you are unable to contribute financially but would like to host a fundraising event on our behalf - we would love to hear from you. If you have a small business and would like to donate prizes for an event - please get in touch. If there is anything at all that you believe could help facilitate our fundraising efforts or help us to reach a wider audience then please do not hesitate to contact us. If you or someone you know is able to offer us a social platform, newspaper article, interview or any other means of advertising and raising awareness, a place where we can share our story to widen our reach, please, please contact me.

Thank you again from the bottom of my heart for your selfless, compassionate and unwavering support. Our family will never forget the incredible community that came together to help save my husband's life!

With love and endless gratitude, Natalie x