The Fight Continues

A year ago, 1,469 of you helped me raise £120,000 to build a war chest against stage 4 cancer. That money funded chemotherapy beyond standard NHS provision, advanced testing, hyperbaric oxygen and red light therapy, and the relentless ongoing costs of a cancer that does not go away, only pauses between rounds.

I am not starting a new page. This is phase two of the same fight you already backed, because everything that has happened since means I need your help again, and I wanted you to be part of the next chapter, not a fresh ask from scratch.

What's changed since you last supported me

In August, I had a reaction to my chemotherapy that nearly killed me. My breathing failed. I was moved to intensive care, placed on a mask that breathed for me, and spent five days there before a further week on the oncology ward. Twenty-four days in hospital in total.

I came home unable to walk more than a few steps, permanently reliant on oxygen, and disabled in ways I had never experienced in six years of this disease. We believe we have identified the drug that caused the reaction and have removed it from my treatment plan. But rebuilding what August took from me has become its own long fight, on top of the cancer itself.

My ongoing costs have risen sharply as a result. I am currently spending approximately £8,000 a month on carer support for daily living, private chemotherapy contributions, and adjuvant care including hyperbaric oxygen. That is not a one-off cost. It is the new, ongoing price of staying in this fight.

Who I am

At 29, training for ultra marathons and working full time, I was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer. It came back. Stage 4. That was six years ago. Since then, it has been more than 45 rounds of chemotherapy, multiple surgeries, and, this August, the closest I have come to losing this fight entirely.

I have spent those six years refusing to let the disease be the only thing I built. I founded Chat Cancer, a community and now a registered charity for young adults navigating cancer, because I know exactly how alone this diagnosis can make you feel. I became a resilience coach. I became a Cancer Research UK Campaigns Ambassador. I kept showing up, kept building, kept fighting.

What this money funds

Carer support for daily living while my mobility recovers

Private chemotherapy and treatment costs beyond standard NHS provision

Hyperbaric oxygen and red light therapy, used regularly to support recovery between chemotherapy rounds

Advanced testing and monitoring, particularly critical given what happened in August

Physiotherapy and rehabilitation to rebuild strength lost during 24 days in hospital

Why this matters

I am fighting to be here for the family who did not hesitate for a second when I needed them most in August. I am fighting to see Chat Cancer through to full charity status this year, so it can offer real financial support to other young people facing this disease. I am fighting to keep coaching people through their own hardest moments. And I am fighting because August showed me, more clearly than anything else could have, exactly how much I still have left to do.

You have already proven what this community can do together. I am asking you to do it again.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for everything phase one made possible, and for whatever you can give to phase two.

Josh