My name is Melissa, and I’m fundraising for my husband Lee, the most loving husband and daddy to our beautiful 3-year-old boy, Luca.

For the past year, Lee has been courageously battling stage 4 melanoma cancer. Our world turned upside down last December when Lee went to A&E with what we thought was shoulder pain — only to later discover that he had cancer in his spine, lungs, and liver. It all stemmed from a mole removed six years earlier that we believed was gone for good.

Since then, Lee has endured more than anyone should have to. He spent months wearing a neck brace and arm sling to protect his spinal cord, and began targeted therapy tablets (Enco/Bini) that initially gave us so much hope — his tumours shrank dramatically. But in July, while we were on holiday, Lee began to experience severe neck pain again. Scans showed the cancer was growing, and the treatment had stopped working.

Next came immunotherapy (Ipi/Nivo) — the treatment we thought could save his life. Tragically, the cancer spread to Lee’s brain, and after only two rounds of immunotherapy, he suffered a bleed on the brain due to inflammation. Since then, he’s been in and out of hospital with blood clots on his lungs, and just this week Lee had a seizure from another bleed on his brain. Something I wouldn’t wish anyone to see. Lee had been sick and was unable to walk or talk. His face had drooped on one side and his eyes were swollen. Since then Lee has been recovering in hospital on high dose steroids.

On Tuesday, doctors told us the words no family should ever have to hear — that there’s nothing more they can do, and that Lee may only have a few weeks left. We are absolutely heartbroken beyond compare. How can Luca lose his daddy? How can I live without my husband? But I refuse to give up. Lee has fought too hard, and he has too much to live for — our little boy needs his daddy, and I can’t imagine our lives without him.

After speaking with his doctor at The Christie, we’ve been given one more possible treatment here in the UK — another targeted therapy (Dabrafenib and Trametinib) with a low chance of working for a long time — but after many hours researching and feeling we may have to take things into our own hands, we also want to explore a life-saving treatment in Germany with Professor Vogl, who specialises in TACE and TACP therapy. This involves delivering chemotherapy directly into the tumours and starving them of blood supply — a treatment not available on the NHS.

We’ve spoken with another patient with stage 4 breast cancer who was given weeks to live but is now in remission thanks to this very treatment. Each session costs €3,900 (around £3,300) including consultation, scans, and hospital stay, and Lee would need treatment every four weeks. We think lee would need 3-5 sessions, possibly more. Because of the inflammation in his brain, he can’t fly, so we’re looking into driving to Frankfurt in a campervan, so he can travel comfortably and safely.

With treatment and travel, each trip will cost around £5,000 — something we simply can’t manage alone.

We hate to have to do this but we have no choice. So I’m asking — from the bottom of my heart — for your help.

Every single donation, no matter how small, will help us give Lee the fighting chance he deserves. He’s our world — the most incredible husband, daddy, son, brother and friend — and we can’t give up on him now.

Please, if you can, help us save Lee’s life and keep our family together.

Thank you for reading our story and for any support you can give — sharing this page means the world to us too.

With love and gratitude,

Melissa, Lee & Luca ❤️