Not letting cancer win, help make dreams come true

I have set this up for my sister Karen (Doherty) Cooke, her lovely husband Kevin and her children. I wish this was a fundraiser to raise funds for a possible cure of Kevin’s cancer however that is no longer an option and Kevin and Karen were delivered with devastating news that he has 12 months to live give or take. They have three beautiful children, 18, 9 and 6.

Anyone who knows Karen and Kevin know they have always been about family. They always find the positives in a negative situation. They truly are beautiful people inside and out.

This fundraiser is to raise money to cover the costs of creating family memories while Kevin can. Now more than ever every day counts and making their future family dreams come to reality now.

I would like to highlight that the two youngest children do not know the true extent of their daddy’s illness and I ask for discretion in this matter if you have children that know them or play with them. Thank you.

Kevin cancer journey (Karen’s words)

June 2020, our world changed forever, my husband (42 at the time) and father of our 3 children, was diagnosed with stage 3 oesophageal cancer and it was aggressive with not a good outlook.

Life as we knew it fell apart. We cried and clung to each other but after days of feeling nothing but pain and destruction we decided to gather ourselves and research real survivor stories, which we did, and we gained some hope.

Kevin’s treatment plan was Chemo, Radiation, and surgery. Kevin began this but nothing prepared him (or me) for how ill he would become. Chemo completely knocked him; it was the worst 7 /8 weeks of our lives. It was the kids whole summer holidays gone with dad not well, not many happy memories being made but we thought what was 1 summer if we could be gaining some more.

Even with these horrible side effects to treatment we were positive about the up coming surgery. This is what might ‘fix’ Kevin. Then we were delivered a blow. The cancer has spread into his lungs, although the treatment reduced the tumour in his oesophagus, the treatment did not slow down the aggressive nature of this cancer. We were told there was nothing more they could do but palliative care and surgery is no longer an option.

We have 3 children, eldest at the time was 17, then 8 and then 5, broken hearted for them and each other. Our hopes completely dashed and any positivity was very hard to hold on to but we decided to pick up the pieces and the strength to live as happy and normally as possible for our kids and try to make as many memories as we could before he was to leave us forever.

Then, one day the doctor from the hospital rang to say he was willing to go ahead with the original operation due to Kevin’s age and health, to give him the best possible outcome but with the added bonus of taking the tumour from the lung at the same time. This was our miracle, they made our day our life, our everything, we had hope again.

Thankfully the surgery happened in October and it went well. The surgery brought its own challenges, but Kevin never complained.

Unfortunately, more tumours appeared in the lungs and have been growing aggressively. In June 2021 we were hit with devastating news that now there is nothing more they can do. No treatment is deemed suitable. Chemo wouldn’t offer him a lot more time it would just take away the quality of life that he has at the minute. Radiation is too risky as the tumour is so close to a vessel, this is something we still have to consider is it worth the risk as even if it shrunk the tumour we have been told it won’t buy him a lot more time. Clinical trials and immunotherapy are a no go for this type of cancer.

The children 9 and 6 have no idea what lies ahead of them and my 18 year old is heartbroken as she was only adopted by Kevin in November 2019 after almost 18 years of being her dad, being there for her and taking her on as his own, unconditionally. We would like the time we have with Kevin to be making memories of fun and laughter as much as we can before he becomes too ill to do any of it.

Kevin is a true gentleman; he adores all our children and has always put them first. He has a fantastic sense of humour and we always laugh even through these sad times we keep the bright side out and keep going. Even though it’s so unfair, it’s our faith and we've accepted it. We are blessed to have such close loving families and have so many wonderful friends around us to support us.

He is my best friend; my other half and I love every extra moment I get with him.

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass; it’s about learning to dance in the rain.