Help Irina access life-saving cancer treatment

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story. The fact that you have opened the link tells me that there is hope and that there are good people out there that might help me.

My name is Irina Griffiths. I am 50 years old. I am an Export Administrator and Rose Advisor for David Austin Roses and have served some wonderful customers over the last 20 years. I live in Wolverhampton with my husband Daryl and 15 year old daughter who is currently in the process of sitting her GCSE mock exams. It breaks my heart that she is also having to cope with the risk of losing her mother and I feel powerless to shield her from this. I am desperately in need of life saving cancer treatment.

My Story

I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in October 2021, aged 48. I was so fortunate to be offered a colon resection by the NHS in December 2021 before starting a course of chemotherapy in March 2022. All seemed to be going well for a time but recently I started to suffer stomach pains, but believed this to be due to the fact that I had slow colonic transit. I attended hospital for a CT scan in April 2023 and the results revealed a pelvic mass requiring more scans to identify the problem and potential treatments.

On 22nd May 2023 I received the devastating news that I had colorectal peritoneal metastases (this means the original cancer has spread to other organs in my body) and was at stage 4. I would require further tests and consultations to establish what, if anything, could be done. However, before I was able to agree a treatment plan, I was admitted to hospital on 5th June due to unbearable pain and an enormous swelling in my stomach that was putting pressure on my internal organs. I was monitored for a few days and on 9th June I was advised that the cancer was extremely aggressive and had spread rapidly in the weeks following my recent scan. Discussions around surgery or paleative care were discussed. Thankfully, the consultant team agreed to carry out life-saving surgery. However, I was told that there was a high chance that I may not survive this surgery, at which point, my daughter was called out of school to visit me with my husband prior to the surgery. This was the most frightening and emotional experience I have ever encountered, believing that I may be saying goodbye to my family. Luckily, I did survive the surgery, but this has not provided a cure and there is no further treatment that the NHS can offer me at this stage. After doing a lot of research, i have found that my particular type of cancer does not respond to chemotherapy. The prognosis they gave me was twelve months.

The NHS have been wonderful but unfortunately they cannot help me due to the current pressure they are under, the funding restrictions on what they can offer and even if they could offer a treatment plan, they could not deliver this in time for me.

How your donation will help

I have spoken to a specialist consultant to discuss alternative options including immunotherapy and dendritic cell therapy which could provide me with a chance of recovery and give me the hope that I will see my daughter finish her schooling and go off to University to follow her dreams.

These treatments are my only hope of survival and are not available on the NHS. The estimated cost for treatment that could save my life is in the region of £80,000.

I am relying on the generosity, care and compassion of family, friends and strangers to help me to be able to afford this type of treatment as it is my last and only hope.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read my story.

Please help if you can. Any donation, however small, will make a huge difference and provide the opportunity for my daughter to navigate her teenage years with her mother by her side.