Please help my good friends Joey & Shannen

Faisal (Joey) and Shannen brought their first house together in July 2023 .. everything was so exciting and they were making plans for decorating and all the fun things that come with owning a house.

5 weeks after moving in Faisal was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.

It came as a complete shock, he’d been having dental issues causing him to have 2 teeth removed. He never fully healed after the extractions so ended up having a referral to the hospital because the swelling was not going down, only getting worse. They eventually agreed to do surgery and take a biopsy/sample of the bone & tissue in his mouth.

2 or 3 days later, Faisal had a phone call asking him to come in to the ‘Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre’ which is where he received his diagnosis of Burkitts lymphoma - a form of non Hodgkin’s lymphoma (blood cancer)

the doctors explained that the tumour inside his mouth was pressing on his jaw causing the dental issues.

The doctors informed them that his cancer is very aggressive and they needed to start treatment ASAP. The next 48 hours was a whirlwind of MRIs, PET scans, CT scans, and more. Then 2 days after he got his diagnosis, he was in hospital starting his first round of chemotherapy.

Faisal is now on his 4th cycle of chemo and doing really well, it’s been a rollercoaster and very very intense with long stays in hospital and lots of side effects. Shannen has been by his side every step of the way, spending 12+ hours at the hospital with him every day.

Faisal & Shannen have not been able to work throughout this and have been rejected any financial support. They have been told that they are not entitled to any benefits, no support with energy bills, no council tax reduction, nothing. They never ever thought they’d be in a position for having to even contemplate asking for financial help as they both work hard but the unforeseen circumstances mean they are struggling to make ends meet.

Shannen has just told me that’s lots of people are advising her to claim PIP for Joey or to contact charities etc, she hasn’t been able to reply to everyone and really appreciates everyone’s advice but just wanted to explain that they have been told they are not entitled to any benefits, including PIP, as someone needs to have had their condition for 3 months and expect to have needs for the next 9 months. Because Joey can’t claim PIP, Shannen can’t claim carers allowance, they are also not entitled to any universal credit or ESA. They have been through all sorts of advisors and keep getting knocked back. Unfortunately the charities they have approached have either declined help or not had any funds available for grants at this time. Also, because they are not in receipt of any benefits, the council cannot offer a reduction on council tax. They really have tried so many avenues and keep getting rejected. Let’s help them out!!

anything you can donate would be amazing and help relieve money worries away from them both so can can concentrate on getting Joey back to good health ❤️