Help John Fight Incurable Head and Neck Cancer

Welcome to my page and thank you for stopping by!

I have incurable head and neck cancer and I’m asking for your help.

Your support will help me to focus on my health, improve the quality of my life, and so improve my survivorship.

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!

How it all started

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!

I’ve actually been fighting cancer and the side-effects of treatment now for 15 years.

My first diagnosis of Stage IV head and neck cancer was in 2009.

Up until this point I’d been a teacher for 20 years and life was good.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Now, fast forward to the start of the pandemic in 2020. Another Stage IV cancer was found in my throat.

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.

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.

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!

At the time of writing, I have just had my 58th immunotherapy treatment or ‘spa treatment’ as I call it!

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.

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.

What I do now?

When people ask me what do I do, I reply, “Whatever it takes!”

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.

How long I have left to live no one can predict, or would dare to!

Surviving is now my full-time job but obviously this doesn’t pay any wages and I am financially vulnerable.

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!

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.

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.

I also write about the cancer experience and post blogs on my website www.johndabell.com 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.

What I need your help with

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Thank you.

All my best,

John