Help Bradley fight stage 4 bowel cancer
Donation protected
The 17th December 2019 is a date I will never forget. It was then that my gorgeous boy, and only child, was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer. It was this date that has marked a subsequent journey of devastation, hope, uncertainty and resolve, which are just some of the emotions that have gone alongside watching my child suffer in a way that no parent ever imagines they will have to.
Bradley had started to settle in to his first full time job in digital marketing based in London and was loving it. He was a fit healthy young man, a regular gym user with an active lifestyle. He was a great football player and has remains an avid Spurs fan. As you would expect of a 22 year old, Bradley had a great social life, and his fabulous group of friends have remained a loyal influence in his life during this ordeal. However, life has now changed beyond recognition as Bradley the loss of muscle mass has forced Bradley to cease playing football which is akin to having the love of his life taken from him.
Prior to his diagnosis, Bradley had suffered for 3 years with stomach complaints. He was repeatedly informed that the problem stemmed from a grumbling appendix, IBS etc. However, In October 2019 the symptoms significantly worsened resulting a blood test which identified an iron deficiency. This prompted a referral, which culminated in the devastating diagnosis we had feared. "It is very rare for someone so young receiving this diagnosis" so we are told over and over again and this is why GPs do not typically take it any further with any investigations, unfortunately leaving a young person like my Bradley facing a far harder fight against the cancer.
Bradley definitely takes after me with his tenacious nature (some might say stubborn) but after much persuasion and convincing that surgery was the safest first step of this awful journey. The surgery that followed attempted to remove the tumour. In another devastating turn of events, we were informed that they were unable to remove the tumour and we discovered it had metastasised into his peritoneum. This made the battle seem harder all of a sudden and Bradley spent much of those last weeks of 2019 in and out of hospital. Additionally, the bowel took a long time to settle down and Bradley’s condition worsened. By this time he had lost 30kg.
With surgery complete, Bradley started his chemotherapy journey with the hope that it would shrink the tumour and reduce the seedlings in the peritoneum to enable him to go onto major surgery at Basingstoke (HIPEC where they remove the peritoneum). Unfortunately, another blow was dealt when his scan showed that after his first 5 rounds of chemo there was little difference other than the peritoneum had thickened (which was worse than before). Bradley ended up in hospital late April facing major life saving surgery because the tumour perforated his bowel and became infected. He faced this surgery with courage, and head strong determination to leave hospital ASAP. Incredibly 5 days after surgery he was ready to face the second line folfiri chemotherapy head on and was still very positive. It was at this point, I considered the possibility that there is hope, and it gave us a new resolve to fight this.
Now here we are today discovering his cancer has been resistant to first and second line chemo. Options are running out for my brilliant son who is fighting so hard and has come so far. We were recently offered a renewed hope, after contact with Dr Jamie Murphy a lead in colorectal cancer at London Imperial. As an expert in his field, he feels that Bradley is a suitable candidate for chemo of Avistan which is a drug not a available on the NHS anymore and has some success - at the moment this is to stabilise the cancer and prevent it from growing and extend life in the hope that Bradley can then have a Pipac treatment at Imperial.
He had is 23rd Birthday in April but due to the 3 C's, Cancer, Chemo and Covid this was not the celebration I wanted for him. Bradley has received support from Clic Sargent used his birthday as an opportunity to set up a fundraiser for his birthday raising over £2000 for them. Now here I am asking for the same thing - help for my son - to raise funds so that Bradley has an opportunity to try a drug that has the potential give him a new lease of life. Everyone has been so kind and supportive so far and everyone who knows me will testify that I hate having to ask for money but, after much persuasion from friends, I have been convinced that, as a mum, I need to do everything I can to give my only my son a shot at the treatment that might save his life. Of course, there are no guarantees life is precious and I won’t spend the rest of my time wondering “what if”. Thank you for reading. Caroline x
Bradley had started to settle in to his first full time job in digital marketing based in London and was loving it. He was a fit healthy young man, a regular gym user with an active lifestyle. He was a great football player and has remains an avid Spurs fan. As you would expect of a 22 year old, Bradley had a great social life, and his fabulous group of friends have remained a loyal influence in his life during this ordeal. However, life has now changed beyond recognition as Bradley the loss of muscle mass has forced Bradley to cease playing football which is akin to having the love of his life taken from him.
Prior to his diagnosis, Bradley had suffered for 3 years with stomach complaints. He was repeatedly informed that the problem stemmed from a grumbling appendix, IBS etc. However, In October 2019 the symptoms significantly worsened resulting a blood test which identified an iron deficiency. This prompted a referral, which culminated in the devastating diagnosis we had feared. "It is very rare for someone so young receiving this diagnosis" so we are told over and over again and this is why GPs do not typically take it any further with any investigations, unfortunately leaving a young person like my Bradley facing a far harder fight against the cancer.
Bradley definitely takes after me with his tenacious nature (some might say stubborn) but after much persuasion and convincing that surgery was the safest first step of this awful journey. The surgery that followed attempted to remove the tumour. In another devastating turn of events, we were informed that they were unable to remove the tumour and we discovered it had metastasised into his peritoneum. This made the battle seem harder all of a sudden and Bradley spent much of those last weeks of 2019 in and out of hospital. Additionally, the bowel took a long time to settle down and Bradley’s condition worsened. By this time he had lost 30kg.
With surgery complete, Bradley started his chemotherapy journey with the hope that it would shrink the tumour and reduce the seedlings in the peritoneum to enable him to go onto major surgery at Basingstoke (HIPEC where they remove the peritoneum). Unfortunately, another blow was dealt when his scan showed that after his first 5 rounds of chemo there was little difference other than the peritoneum had thickened (which was worse than before). Bradley ended up in hospital late April facing major life saving surgery because the tumour perforated his bowel and became infected. He faced this surgery with courage, and head strong determination to leave hospital ASAP. Incredibly 5 days after surgery he was ready to face the second line folfiri chemotherapy head on and was still very positive. It was at this point, I considered the possibility that there is hope, and it gave us a new resolve to fight this.
Now here we are today discovering his cancer has been resistant to first and second line chemo. Options are running out for my brilliant son who is fighting so hard and has come so far. We were recently offered a renewed hope, after contact with Dr Jamie Murphy a lead in colorectal cancer at London Imperial. As an expert in his field, he feels that Bradley is a suitable candidate for chemo of Avistan which is a drug not a available on the NHS anymore and has some success - at the moment this is to stabilise the cancer and prevent it from growing and extend life in the hope that Bradley can then have a Pipac treatment at Imperial.
He had is 23rd Birthday in April but due to the 3 C's, Cancer, Chemo and Covid this was not the celebration I wanted for him. Bradley has received support from Clic Sargent used his birthday as an opportunity to set up a fundraiser for his birthday raising over £2000 for them. Now here I am asking for the same thing - help for my son - to raise funds so that Bradley has an opportunity to try a drug that has the potential give him a new lease of life. Everyone has been so kind and supportive so far and everyone who knows me will testify that I hate having to ask for money but, after much persuasion from friends, I have been convinced that, as a mum, I need to do everything I can to give my only my son a shot at the treatment that might save his life. Of course, there are no guarantees life is precious and I won’t spend the rest of my time wondering “what if”. Thank you for reading. Caroline x
Organizer and beneficiary
Caroline Jane
Organizer
England
Bradley Coombes
Beneficiary
