Join Carley’s fight against Glioblastoma

Carley’s Story

Welcome everyone and thank you for visiting our page.

Carley is a 41-year-old mother of two beautiful children, Ellie and Harry who are just 13 and 10. She’s a loving fiancé to her partner Nick and a kind, caring and devoted daughter and sister. She’s one of those people in life who always thinks of others before herself.

Anyone who has ever met Carley could never fail to be touched by her laughter, her generous spirit, and her sheer love of life! Her kindness and compassion for others are part of what makes her such a wonderful person to be around.

On 29th May 2023 our family’s world changed forever. Carley woke up with a headache …that was it.... no prior warnings …no signs….by the afternoon she was in bed, her temperature dropped and she couldn’t focus she was obviously unwell. We called an ambulance and she was admitted to hospital. From there a CT scan showed a mass on the brain and a subsequent MRI confirmed the worst, it was a glioblastoma grade IV. For those of you that don’t know, and up to that point neither did we, Glioblastoma is a rare fast growing brain cancer, its incurable with a very poor prognosis with most people only living for 12-18 month, only 25% of people diagnosed live beyond 1 year and only 5% survive more than 5 years. As a family we are devastated.

Surgery followed, a craniotomy to remove the tumour, which was a success with no visible trace of tumour remaining, followed by 6 weeks of radiotherapy and chemo and then on to 12 monthly cycles of Temozolomide. Carley adapted her diet, added in many supplements and procedures, invested in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber and a red-light sauna in an attempt to keep the cancer at bay and extend her life. All went well for 10 months with clear scans and she was due to start round 11 of chemo, but on Saturday 6th July 2024 she had a seizure, was unconscious and an ambulance was called. She was admitted to hospital, put on a ventilator and spent 3 nights in ICU. An MRI confirmed the worst that her glioblastoma had returned.

Carley had her 2nd craniotomy on 23rd July.

We are determined that we will do everything in our power to give Carley as much time as we can with her family. She is a fighter and it is humbling to watch and share this battle with her that she faces with such strength, dignity, determination and resilience. However, sadly in the UK treatment options are very limited and following a consultation this week with her oncologist we were told that outside of conventional chemotherapy, that she would remain on for life and is not really effective against Carley’s glioblastoma, our only option is to access treatment overseas.

Germany is way ahead of the UK and there are vaccine options. There is a vaccine, dendritic cell, that is showing promise in the field of immunology its doubling survival rates and, in the case of some people, prolonging their lives in years rather than months, which is sadly all the current treatments of radiotherapy and chemotherapy can offer for Carley’s type of cancer. Unfortunately, the vaccine isn't available on the NHS, only privately and we are looking at a clinic in Germany, this treatment is expensive and will involve regular trips to Germany. We are expecting it to cost upwards of £50,000, so anything you can help with would be appreciated more than we can express.

The vaccine treatment is relatively new and every patient who undergoes it is adding to medical knowledge and helping others as well as having potentially lifesaving treatment. We also want to have Carley’s frozen tumour sequenced for specific mutations in case there is a possibility that it can be targeted with a medication that is already in use against other forms of cancer.

Please give what you can, we appreciate every single penny that any of you can afford to donate to help us reach our goal and offer Carley the opportunity to see her children grow up and spend precious time with her family.

And if you can’t donate, we understand but please can everybody share this page to help raise awareness.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Please be assured that 100% of all donations will be used for Carley’s medical treatment.