Liz's story:

A few weeks prior to Christmas in 2023 Liz became unwell and was blue lighted to hospital at 4:30am one Saturday morning.

In the run up to the event Liz had become increasingly unwell and by week 4 blood tests revealed that she was in stage 3 renal failure.

Liz spent two days in an A&E waiting room as doctors ran tests to establish the cause. A CT scan would later reveal extensive inoperable cervical cancer.

The mass was compressing the kidneys, resulting in a build up of toxins which was ultimately poisoning her system.

Doctors hoped that stents would alleviate the pressure, however both have failed and a double nephrostomy was carried out.

Since then Liz has undergone multiple blood transfusions, endured serious bacterial infections and numerous other complications.

We do have a beacon of hope to which we cling as a family, the type of cancer Liz has "typically" responds well to treatment, so no matter what happens we focus on this.

Why GoFundMe:

My name is Andrew, I'm Liz's partner of 5yrs. Not only is she the love of my life, but we also work together in our small rural family business.

Like many cancer patients, Liz is now unable to work and is on 28 weeks statutory sick pay. At this point patients usually make contact with the cancer charity McMillan, asking their Welfare Specialist look into available financial support to help get through treatment.

We did just that and subsequently learned that due to the nature of our self employment, Liz is ineligible for financial assistance with the exception of a £300 one-off grant from the McMillan charity.

Liz doesn't qualify for UC, ESA or PIP at this time, a ludicrous situation given her medical status but nonetheless it is where we are (Incidentally many other self employed small business owners endure the same bureaucracy).

It's extremely difficult to reach out for help in this way, particularly when you're a family with a history of working hard and self reliance... but we're in trouble and it'd be foolish not to explore GoFundMe in an attempt to alleviate some of the financial burden.

I've absolutely no idea what I'm doing with this, or if I'm making a hash of it, so please bare with me.

GoFundMe prompts you to provide a "target figure", I put 25k... we're just looking for help to buy groceries and put fuel in the car so that we can travel to hospital appointments.

At this moment in time we have no idea how long this situation will go on or the outcome, let alone how much it's going to cost?

Thank you in advance, even if all you can do is share the link.

Much love.

Andrew, Liz & Family