My name is Francesca.    I’m a single mum to 10-year-old Roberto and in 2022, I was told I have incurable cancer. The good news is that it’s possible to live for another 10 years to see my son, Roberto’s 21st birthday. The bad news is that the non-invasive treatments to help me achieve this goal aren’t available on the NHS for me and will cost upwards of £25,000.  This is my story…   The first question people ask is, what type of cancer do you have …. And lucky me, I get to tell them it’s anal cancer.  The most embarrassing cancer title out there. Not only do I have to tell people that I have cancer, but I then have to embarrass them by telling them it’s anal cancer. I am not embarrassed, but it gets everyone I tell… and they are always embarrassed.    My 10-year-old Son, Roberto, and I moved back to Hove 3 years ago from our life in Mallorca after his father, and I separated. I got him into a Bilingual school where he fitted straight in, and I found an awesome well paid Monday to Friday job as a Cook for a family in their private house which I enjoyed …. And we were off!! Perfect!!   Then in November 2022 I found a lump.  After so many tests and scans and all the waiting, I was due for my results. Roberto and I both caught covid and were quite unwell with it, so I had to get my results over the phone. I had convinced myself at this point that this could only be good news as surely they wouldn’t tell me I had cancer over the phone……while self-isolating with my son, right?   I was wrong.  And on 4th Feb 2022 I was told, that I had Stage 3 Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the anus, p16 Positive.   My primary tumour grew fast. Within just 4 weeks I had to give up my job as walking had become too painful and uncomfortable. I had two egg-sized tumours in my lymph nodes on both sides of my groin, as well as a number of smaller tumours around my pelvis. The primary tumour was now almost entirely blocking my bowel, and I was down to only being able to eat clear broths. I lost 24kg in all. Luckily I had it to lose… and my attitude is that you have to take the silver linings when they come your way!!  My 6 week treatment plan of daily targeted Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy started in March 2022. This was all going well until I got my first bowel obstruction. It’s a day I want to forget, but never will. The ambulance arrived to find me in the same level of pain as I was giving birth to Roberto and had to rescue me from my bathroom. I wish Roberto had not had to witness that or hear the pain I was in. A few days later, I collapsed from dehydration, and my Oncologist decided the only way to get me through to the end of my treatment was to stay in till my treatment ended in three weeks’ time. and was one of the lowest points for me.  Radiotherapy works by building up inside you and continuing to attack the tumour for up to 6 months, so life returned for us for a while - I was able to do the school pick-up again and hang out with my mummy friends in the park after school! Roberto and I could hang out and even ‘Went Ape’ one day! (No idea how I did that! ) The protocol for checking up is a scan at 3 months and then the final one at 6 months.  My 3 month scan in August 2022 came with the incredible news that all the smaller tumours had been blasted away and the main one was almost gone too… and I still had 3 more months of the radiotherapy working away at it to go.  But a couple of weeks before my last scan in October 2022 I found a couple of small lumps on the top of my right thigh and my heart stopped.   My oncologist saw me straight away and reassured me that he didn’t think they would be anything but would send me for a PET scan to check. The scan showed that it had spread. It got out into my lymph system and grown many tumours in my pelvis, the bottom of my spine, and in my liver.  And the game changer … In November 2022 I was told it was incurable.  I am currently 5 months into 6 of weekly Chemotherapy. I am also on a drug trial for Immunotherapy. The last scans showed I’m responding to the treatment, and the tumours are shrinking, which is incredible! But I am lying in a hospital bed as I write this, as the trial drug almost killed me off a couple of weeks ago. So I’m stuck between the rock (my incurable cancer) and a hard place (the brutal trial drugs which have nearly killed me)   Now onto the reason why I’m writing this… I am asking you for help.  My chemo will end soon, and I won’t be strong enough for more until, ironically, the tumours start to grow back - it’s an impossible situation to be in – as I need alternative, non-invasive treatments to help me get stronger, but these treatments aren’t available on the NHS.   I am Roberto’s world. And he is mine. If you’re a single parent too, you’ll understand. I am scared of cancer, that’s for sure, but I’m terrified of leaving my son. I want to see him grow up and be a stroppy teenager and fall in love, get married, and have children….there’s so much I want to share with him and holy moly, so much I want to teach him about what it’s going to be like living without his Mamma. And selfishly, I have so much more life waiting out there to be had.  And if I have to embarrass myself by asking for your help to do this, then I will. I am working with an incredible Functional Practitioner helping me fight my cancer through all other means not currently available on the NHS. There are also many other treatments out there that hopefully can buy me time, and it’s possible by accessing these that I can add up to 10 years onto my life, which will let me see Roberto reach his 21st birthday.  But of course, they all cost. And they are expensive. None of them are a quick fix, so I would need ongoing treatments to keep them working.  I am not able to work, so cannot fund them myself.  Anything you can spare will help me reach my target of £25,000.   A few examples of treatments I can get are:  £65 p/w (£3380 p/y) gets me a weekly Ozone Sauna. Ozone sauna therapy supports the immune system response and helps the production of cells that fight cancer. This helps the body fight cancer. It has also been shown in studies help to reduce the negative side effects of chemotherapy, as well as supporting detoxification and eliminating pathways, it makes me feel good and gives me energy. £225 p/w (£11,700 p/y) gets me a 10 pass IV Ozone therapy treatment. IV Ozone therapy supports and modulates the immune system, stimulates oxygen metabolism and reverses oxygen deficits in the body, which improves energy, decreases inflammation and pain, counteracts viruses, bacteria and fungi and improves circulation, to stop the proliferation of cancer cells and has shown to improve the effects of chemotherapy and reduce the side effects.   £260 p/m (£3120 p/y)  gets me a High Dose vitamin C treatment.  Vitamin C can help to prevent conditions which attack or deplete the immune system and fight illnesses which reduce the function of normal cell activity and is well tolerated by the body to help me to recover and support the efficacy of my conventional treatment.   £125 gets me a consultation with my Functional Medicine Practitioner. Diet and lifestyle are so important. After my treatment is finished, the support from a functional medicine practitioner helps to guide me to choose the right foods to eat and how best to support the whole of my body, providing guidance for mental health, exercise, and supplements from the latest research to reduce a reoccurrence of cancer.    Thank you xx