My name is Jennie and I am desperately trying to raise as much money as possible to help a dear friend called Jody. He is only in his early 40’s but he has lived through the worst ten years of his life.

In January 2014 Jody had tonsillitis, as usual to start with they managed it at home with pain killers and throat spray etc, but after a week or so it got worse. So he went to drs, they gave him a week of antibiotics and said to go back if no better. A week on, it was no better and he had started to get a big lump/swelling in his neck. He went back to drs and they gave him another stronger course of antibiotics for 2 weeks. Again he was told to go back if no better. 2 weeks later, no better.

He went back to drs again, they decided to send him for an ultrasound scan of his neck in early February 2014. Dr gave all possibilities of what it could be, from minor to worst case, which is obviously cancer.

He then had an appointment for results of scan at KGH ear, nose & throat department (ENT) 2 weeks later, they said the lump was a sebaceous cyst and he was scheduled for surgery to remove it in early March 2014. All went well.

A couple of weeks later he went back for stitches to be removed (they had sent the cyst off to be tested as is procedure apparently). So on what they thought was just an appointment to remove stitches and job done, they were sat down to be told they had found cancer cells in the cyst.

He was sent to Leicester hospital to a Head and Neck cancer specialist, who told them that the initial ultrasound scan in Feb showed the cyst they removed, but it also showed where the tumour was in his tonsil, it was there all along.(KGH missed it because they had just focused on what was large and obvious to them (the cyst).

That was infuriating and they did make a formal complaint which was swept under the rug of course. But due to all of this and the lack of trust we had in KGH we asked for his care to be transferred to another hospital.

He was transferred to Northampton General Hospital (NGH)

From there Jody was scheduled for surgery to remove the tonsil where the tumour was and scheduled to start an intensive course of chemotherapy and radiotherapy over a 6 week period to start in April 2014 and was told he'd have to stop work immediately.

Unfortunately, before Jody knew about the cancer he had decided to change career. He had finished his notice period with the old job and was due to start the new job a week before he was diagnosed. But because he had to stop work he was then technically out of work . His new employers were good enough to understand his circumstances and agreed to keep his position open for him until he was able and well enough to start.

His treatment was so intense, chemo every Monday and radiotherapy 5 days a week for 6 weeks. For the first 4 weeks he managed so well, but it then hit hard, he lost his hair, he was so sick, the radiotherapy caused ulcers in throat and mouth which meant he couldn't eat so he started to lose weight. He had to have a PEG tube fitted in his stomach so he could be fed through this (complan calorie shakes to try and help him gain weight and get nutrients into him) and Belle was also able to give him his medication through the tube too.

The last 2 weeks of his treatment he spent in hospital, it was horrific, he lost 2 stone in weight, Belle was sat by his hospital bed and he looked at her one day and said I'm scared Belle, please help me..... She had to basically lose her temper at a poor nurse looking after him for her to do something to help him. She hurried off and within 20 mins she was back with a machine, they put him on an automatic dosage drip with a strong anti sickness drug and within an hour he had stopped being sick.

They were furious, why didn't they do that 2 weeks ago... The answer was, it's expensive, so they try everything else first.!

Treatment finished and now was the time to start his recovery, wean off all meds etc.

Then in October 2014 he was amazingly given the all clear... No signs of cancer in the head/neck area.

Belle organised a surprise party for him, with friends and family from all over the place, to celebrate kicking cancers arse. He had a smashing night

Jody had to have regular scans and endoscopes of his throat for the next 5 yrs. Every appointment was scary, but nothing sinister for 5 yrs. He was discharged August 2019 cancer free...

September 2021 Jody was in the shower and came up to Belle after to say he felt a little lump in his groin. It wasn't painful but you could feel it. There are so many things that it could be, like an ingrown hair, a big spot coming up, a swollen glad etc. But because of his history he went drs.

They sent him for ultrasound, then over a matter of weeks while waiting for results and more scans the lump just got bigger and bigger. It was the size of a tennis ball.

He was then sent for a biopsy of the lump (They requested this to be done at NGH) the results of which confirmed it was cancer, the same cell as his previous.

He was referred to oncology at NGH and they were so thankful to see that he was under the care of the same oncologist he had before, she was amazing and cured him once already, she knew us so well and he trusted her. Phew..

Now here's where it gets ridiculous.

Because that type of cancer usually only goes 3 places which is, head/neck, skin, and Anal/bowel. It took so long for him to start treatment because they were convinced it had spread from one of those areas and into the lymph nodes in his groin.

All scans and examinations showed no other areas of concern, so they eventually decided to have the cancerous lymph nodes removed.

Due to having private healthcare through work he chose to have surgery at a private hospital in Leicester, who removed the 2 lymph nodes on 17th March 2022, that was successful.

While waiting for things to heal his oncologist at NGH decided that she wasn't happy leaving the remaining nodes in his groin so he went for a further surgery to remove them in May 2022. Which was a good thing as once removed they tested them and found small cells in another 2 of them. He was told he would have to wait a few weeks to heal before they could do anymore.

However, treatment was further delayed as the wound broke down causing a deep open sore in his groin. He had to have further surgery to close this and wait a further 12 weeks before they could commence treatment.

Eventually once healed he had a PICC Line fitted in his arm, this was so he could have chemo through this.

He started treatment in July 2022, he had to have 2 different types of chemo, 4 hours of one type at the hospital on a Monday, he then had a pump fitted on to his PICC line to come home with, which delivered a different type of chemo over 4 days. He then had radiotherapy alongside this - 5 days a week for 6 weeks .

Just after this finished, he kept getting extremely high temperatures and feeling very unwell, he was in and out of hospital over a number of days, he was sent home with antibiotics as his infection markers were up. But he got worse. Belle took him back in and they found he had sepsis! He had a couple of days in hospital on drips etc and the correct antibiotics and was able to come home.

They then scanned Jody and found out the cancer had spread to his pelvis. They continued with a further 6 weeks of chemo one day a week at the hospital and radiotherapy 5 days a week. He was so sore, so tired and so weak. He basically spent a week at a time in bed. He was taking so much medication to prevent side effects that they caused side effects of their own and he had to take more to deal with that. It was never ending.

If that wasn't enough, he woke Belle up in the early hours of one morning because he started feeling excruciating pain down his right side which was worse when he breathed in, he was sweating and as white as a ghost. He was only able to take short quick breaths. Belle called an ambulance, paramedics came, checked him over and took him into hospital as they suspected a blood clot.

That was confirmed to be the case, he had a blood clot on his right lung. They kept him in for a couple of days on blood thinners and got his pain under control. Then he was able to come home and Belle had to inject him in his stomach with meds to thin his blood for a week, before they gave him tablet form meds to ease the clot. Which he still takes to this day.

But he got through all of that, he did it, he finished treatment on 26th October 2022 and got to ring that bell.

We then had the long wait to find out if his amazing fight and all he'd been through had been worth it.

15th December 2022 was the day... Amazing news, there is no sign of cancer in your groin or pelvis. But...... The scans show legions in 3 areas of the liver. When will he get a break!

Again, it is unusual for the type of cancer he has to behave this way, it's extremely rare so all the specialists were involved in this one. They again scanned him from top to toe. Again there was nothing they could see anywhere else, so they decided to give him immunotherapy this time. As it stood, because the cells in his liver were dotted about, it would be tricky to operate right then, but they said they wanted him to have a couple of months of immunotherapy and they would scan him to see what effect it's having and if working they would possibly look at operating.

He started immunotherapy treatment on 19th Jan 2023 one day a week, every 2 weeks. He was feeling better, this treatment wasn't kicking his butt like chemo, he was back at work, back fishing, and overall had some kind of normality, under the circumstances it was all so positive.

Then one day out of the blue he started getting really sharp electric shock type pain in the right side of his back, it took his breath away, it was spasming on and off, moving from upper right side, the centre, then lower left side. At times he couldn't move. Belle took him to the oncology emergency bay, as she thought it could be another blood clot.

They examined him, gave him loads of pain relief, did bloods etc, the Dr said because immunotherapy inflames all organs in first few months it could be something pressing/pinching a nerve, which is causing the electric shock type spasms/pain.

They prescribed him amitriptyline to relax nerves for 2 weeks but said he would need to change to something else after that, as it can be quite damaging to the liver if taken long term.... Like his liver needed anymore problems to deal with!!!

He was sent home and within a week he just got worse, the pain was so bad he couldn't dress himself. Belle had to help him bathe, he was out of breath and in agony just walking up the stairs..

Belle wasn't happy. Something wasn't right.

So they called the emergency bay again on 1st March. They told her to take him in. They did an MRI scan and he was told that day, they found Cancer in both of his lungs, in the top of right lung, bottom of left.

Absolutely heart-breaking. When will this stop.

He was told they would be discussing him at a meeting with all specialists in a few days time and they would be In touch with what’s to happen next. They sent him home with more pain relief and meds.

He was asked to go for more scans which should have been on 10th March but he had booked a couple of days in Devon with Belle and refused to cancel it, it was beautiful and just what they needed.

So they got him in on 13th March. Oncology had requested a detailed scan of his spine in addition to scans of lungs and liver, as well as full body CT.

As soon as he came out of the MRI he was told that after his CT scan they wanted him to go straight to the oncology emergency bay, as they had seen something on his spine which is bulging and is likely why he's in so much pain.

The drs sat them down and informed themt that they found cancer in 3 areas of his spine. T1 T4 and T6, it was T6 that gave them the most concern as the vertebrae had collapsed and the tissue surrounding also had cancer in too. The inflammation of this was pressing his spinal cord which is why the pain and spasms were happening.

He was given steroids to reduce inflammation and booked in to start emergency palliative radiotherapy the next day.

They asked what could be done about it, is it treatable, can it be operated on and the answer was their worst nightmare.

They wouldn't be able to operate or cure it, because it's in multiple areas of the spine and because he also has cancer in other areas of his body, it would be too high risk.

So all that is left is to manage pain and try to control the cancer from growing and spreading.

It just didn't seem real, surely there was something that could be done! Maybe when his oncologist had looked at all the scans she will come up with a plan, something … anything to treat it!

He had an appointment booked to see her on the 20th March but for now, radiotherapy was to start the next day.

14th March he started the first of 5 sessions (they were able to give him 5 because he was mobile enough and strong enough to cope with it) that is the maximum they can do without causing too much damage to the spinal cord.

His last session was on the morning of 20th. Straight after that he had his appointment with his oncologist.

Devastatingly she confirmed that the cancer in his liver had grown, and it also showed more areas in his lungs too. The immunotherapy had no effect at all so she would be stopping that.

There was no option for surgery, and all they could do now is try and control it.

The NHS can now only offer 6 sessions of chemo. One session every 3 weeks. This will start end of April 2023.

It will make him sick, lose his hair, eyelashes etc, but this is with an aim of controlling the spread. They will give him 3 sessions and scan him, if the cancer hasn't got bigger or spread anywhere else then they will give him the remaining 3 sessions and scan again.

If it's effective in controlling it then they will give more.

But this is not a cure. This is to give him more time.

If the chemo doesn't work then the NHS can't do anymore, he can be referred to specialists in London for clinical trials, but again all to give him more time.

But he will continue to fight, just as he has for all these years, and they will exhaust every possible option available to him. After that they will send his medical records to the clinic in Germany that does Proton Therapy to see if they think they can help him. This will be a cost of over £60,000 which we will have to raise.

We will do what-ever it takes to try. We have to keep going. They have children … They have grandchildren !

Whatever is raised is going to be used to give our jody the best possible chance to live life. It will provide money for their rent, their travels and further treatment. The cost of just parking in hospital is crazy!!

This is the first go fund me page I have ever raised and the words “Thank you” will never be enough

He's in a lot of pain and on a lot of medication, but right now he's here and he is determined to keep living the best life he can with the love, care and support from so many of his amazing friends and his family around him, while he continues to fight this battle.