Hi, my name is Simon, and I’m writing this to ask for help on behalf of one of my very best friends, Sarah Dodd.

Sarah is only 42.

She is living with incurable stage-4 cancer and has also recently suffered the devastating loss of her baby daughter, Rose. I am raising funds to help her continue life-extending treatments, access mental-health support, and create meaningful memories with her wife, Sharan.

Many of you will know or have heard of Sarah through the escape room industry. She’s been such a huge part of this world for so long — founding the UK Escape Room Industry Conference (ERIC!), supporting designers and owners, speaking at conferences, sitting on awards boards, and playing more escape rooms than anyone in the Western world. She’s helped shape this industry in ways most people will never fully realise.

Beyond this, Sarah is also an NHS doctor. Before cancer stopped her working, she spent years caring for patients and saving lives. Helping people has always been at the centre of who she is.

And alongside this, she and her wife Sharan have suffered the most devastating loss imaginable. Last year, after many years of trying for a baby through IVF, they finally became parents. Their beautiful daughter, Rose, was born in July. She was incredibly brave from the very start - she had a heart condition, spent time in NICU, had surgery, and even survived sepsis. Sarah and Sharan were able to bring her home and start to bond and make precious memories together.

Then, heartbreakingly, Rose suddenly stopped breathing and passed away at just one month old.

As if all of this weren’t enough, Sarah’s mum is also living with incurable cancer, and so is her brother-in-law. I don’t really have words for what they are going through.

A few years ago, Sarah survived cancer and a double mastectomy, and we all thought she’d come out the other side. But in summer 2024 the cancer returned, with tumours in her lungs and liver. It’s stage 4 and incurable.

At present, she continues to receive NHS treatment, but she’s also been having specialist experimental treatment in Germany. It has already helped reduce tumours in her liver and bought her precious time. But each time, it costs over £7,000.

For this treatment to have a real chance of working, it must be completed as a consistent course, not as one or two isolated visits. Medical guidance suggests this would require 8–14 visits over a relatively short period, alongside travel, insurance, and vital mental-health support.

The total cost of completing this course is estimated at £95,000–£145,000. Anything less does not meaningfully complete the treatment plan. This fundraiser exists to see whether reaching that total is possible. We know that’s an enormous amount — but every contribution genuinely helps buy more time, care, and options.

Whilst the German treatments have helped, they are brutal. She’s had the procedures while awake because general anaesthetic is too expensive. The side effects after are awful. She’s exhausted, in pain, and hasn’t slept properly in a long time. She’s dealing with early menopause on top of everything else. And yet she remains unbelievably stoic.

On top of this, she also can’t afford the mental health support she really needs, or all of the ongoing medications.

I’m setting this page up to try to take some of the financial and emotional pressure away, so she and Sharan can focus on being together, on treatment, and on making the best memories they can. If you’re able to help in any way, it would mean so much.

Sarah has always dreamed of visiting Japan — something she’s wanted to do since her degree days, and somewhere that means a lot to her because of its puzzle and escape room culture. Treatment comes first. But if there’s a chance to help make that dream happen, I’d love that for them.

It’s important to say Sarah and Sharan don’t know I’m doing this. They would never ask for help themselves, especially while they are grieving. I’m doing this on their behalf, because they deserve the support after everything they’ve been through. I hope this page can provide practical support for treatment, care, and — if possible — moments of joy in the time ahead.

If you know them personally and are learning about their situation from this page, I have one small request. Please don’t contact them directly right now — even loving messages can feel too overwhelming to deal with. If you’d like, please leave a message here instead, and they can read them, and reply, when they are ready.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, and for caring. Even a small donation or sharing this page would mean the world to me, Sarah and Sharan and their friends and family. It really does mean more than I can say.

With all my love and gratitude,

Simon

(on behalf of Sarah & Sharan)