<div>Welcome to my page and thank you for stopping by!
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I have incurable head and neck cancer and I’m asking for your help.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Your support will help me to focus on my health, improve the quality of my life, and so improve my survivorship.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>By the way, this photo is me with my dog Hetty. She’s been by my side through thick and thin! She's a real lifesaver!
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>How it all started</strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>4 years ago I was told I had just 2 months to live after being told I had incurable head and neck cancer. But here I am and beating the odds!  
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I’ve actually been fighting cancer and the side-effects of treatment now for 15 years.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>My first diagnosis of Stage IV head and neck cancer was in 2009.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Up until this point I’d been a teacher for 20 years and life was good.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I noticed that my tongue started to swell and I had trouble speaking and eating. Scans showed I had a tumour in my tongue which had to be removed.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I had major surgery (a 15-hour operation) to dissect my neck and split open my jaw so the surgeons could access the tumour, remove it and most of my tongue. This was then followed by loads of chemotherapy and radiotherapy and as a result I never returned to school again. My career just disappeared overnight owing to my disability, a disability that has robbed me of the work I loved. It is also a hidden disability because to most people, I might look okay.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Since then, I’ve been struggling to speak, eat and swallow. I choke with every meal so eating is a nightmare and to be honest, speaking is something I really dread doing too.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>These basic functions I find enormously difficult and naturally, this impacts on all aspects of my life including my ability to work and socialise. I regularly aspirate when eating and drinking and as a result one of my lungs is inflamed with pleurisy.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The amount of radiotherapy I received combined with my jaw being split open in surgery means I have late-stage osteoradionecrosis too – this is basically irreversible ‘bone death’ and so I live with a permanently broken jaw that is getting progressively worse and frequently gets infected. There is a very real chance that I will lose this jaw in time. I am, for the moment, resisting mutilating surgery for very obvious reasons as this has a very low success rate and my quality of life would plummet.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Now, fast forward to the start of the pandemic in 2020. Another Stage IV cancer was found in my throat.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>A golf-ball sized tumour had grown undetected in my neck and I was told it was incurable and I had just 2 months to live. This knocked me sideways as you can imagine. 
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I started a course of chemotherapy to potentially give me some more time but this was stopped because of the COVID-19 crisis in hospitals and so my cancer spread.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Thankfully, there were still a couple of options open to me and remarkably, thanks to palliative treatment with radiotherapy and immunotherapy I managed to respond and I am still here!
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>At the time of writing, I have just had my 58th immunotherapy treatment or ‘spa treatment’ as I call it!
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>No one thought I’d survive this long and I continue to defy the odds. I work extremely hard at staying positive and keeping as fit as I can to give myself every possible chance of living a longer life. Having an incurable illness hanging over me all the time is not easy but I just keep going the best I can.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The cruel part of all this is that the longer I live, the harder it is financially to stay afloat, especially during a cost-of-living crisis. The loss of my salary and the loss of savings has been enormously toxic – head and neck cancer comes at a high cost.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>What I do now?</strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>When people ask me what do I do, I reply, “Whatever it takes!”
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Most of my time is spent trying to stay as healthy as possible. My immunotherapy treatment is prolonging my life and so I try to help it along by keeping fit and looking after myself.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>How long I have left to live no one can predict, or would dare to!
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Surviving is now my full-time job but obviously this doesn’t pay any wages and I am financially vulnerable.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The longer I have survived, the more difficult it has become to keep the wolf from the door and I can’t rely on winning the lottery!
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>My illness means I can't work as I once did. I suffer from a range of life-altering side-effects, infections and complications from having had surgery, chemo and radiotherapy so I navigate these on a day-to-day basis and do everything to stay positive.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I try and help others going through cancer (and those who aren’t) by posting daily hopeful and optimistic messages on social media. I hope these help and the feedback I receive certainly indicates my efforts are not in vain. I have been humbled by the magnificent support I receive and all the people that support me with some incredibly nice messages - they make a huge difference and spur me on to give back each day! There are a lot of great people on social media and they have been part of my story. 
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I also write about the cancer experience and post blogs on my website <a href="https://www.johndabell.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">www.johndabell.com</a> and I do what I can to inspire, motivate and support emotional and mental health especially in relation to the impact of cancer. Helping others is what I enjoy even though I cannot function and contribute in the same way as I once did.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>What I need your help with</strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>There are a range of basic and everyday financial costs that I am looking for your help to fund for next year and beyond including: household bills, food, clothing, transport, unforeseen costs and all other hidden expenses and out-of-pocket costs that come with head and neck cancer that impact my daily life.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Medically, I am looking to raise funds so that I can explore complex facial reconstruction using ground-breaking reconstructive techniques so that my diseased jaw bone can be replaced. This will be enormously expensive. It is also a huge step to take. 
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I am also selfishly looking to perhaps do some of those ‘bucket list’ things that I’ve always wanted to do while I can and make some memories for my family.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The ultimate aim of this fundraiser is to improve my survivorship and help with the quality of my life so I can make the most of the time I have left.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>If I was still teaching and none of this had happened, I certainly wouldn’t be asking for help, I’d be giving help instead. In fact, my own fundraising for head and neck cancer over the years has raised thousands for others going through a similar experience to me. This is a truly dreadful disease.  
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I appreciate the time you have taken to read this and if you are able to share this page with others that would be greatly appreciated.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Thank you.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>All my best,
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>John 
</div>

Kristin Milner

Anonymous

Victoria Morley

Tracy Woods

Anthony Zabek

Claire kwok Kwok

Christine Richard

Deana Fitzgerald

Help John Fight Incurable Head and Neck Cancer

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

Eligible for Profile Share Badge

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

isEligibleForProfileBadge

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

categoryGroup

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.3.0 and above

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Help John Fight Incurable Head and Neck Cancer

Still £7,351 to go. Help us build momentum.