Joels fight with Cancer

As some of you may know, our dear Joel has been diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon Cancer.

A little background-

Joel presented to hospital with abdominal pain in late March, and proceeded to have his appendix removed. He was discharged and sent home to recover from surgery. The following week saw Joel still in a lot of discomfort so he returned to emergency. He was put on pain medication and admitted to hospital where he was tested for quite a few different things, doctors not being able to work out what exactly was causing the pain

After being questioned about family history and illnesses, Joel underwent several scans and a procedure. The results of which came as a shock to us all. Colon cancer.

He underwent surgery to remove the cancer on April 17th. The surgery went well and the doctor believed she had removed all of the cancer from the colon.

Joel was discharged after a few days and sent home. He became quite unwell again with some complications from the surgery and back to hospital for another week.

Joel had been healing well at home, although still very sore, and had been advised that following the surgery, he would see an oncologist to talk about a treatment plan.

The news-

Friday May 17th, Joel had the news the none of us expected or wanted to hear. The Cancer is Stage 4.

The Cancer has metastasised to the lymph nodes near the spleen and liver and is in such a position that they cannot be operated on. Treatment is the only option.

The treatment-

Joel starts immunotherapy the week of May 27th. We don’t know how his body react to the treatment and his only option is to wait and see how he goes. At the moment he is unable to work and is currently on unpaid leave.

Joel and his partner Emma only recently relocated over to Perth and had begun an exciting new life together only to have it all fall down around them.

We are hoping this go fund me will make some aspects of their life just that little bit easier. Take the pressure off them by covering some living costs, medical bills and depending on whether they stay in Perth or decide to come home, this could also assist in getting them back to Ballarat.

Our help-

We have been feeling so helpless being so far away from Joel, and have had so many people reach out to see how they can assist, which has brought us to the decision to set this up for him.

Thank you everyone for your support and keep thinking positive thoughts for our Joel xxx

Edit to add specific details required by GoFundMe-

This fundraiser is for my brother Joel Ridsdale. The funds will be withdrawn into a secure bank account and will transferred to Joel as needed to assist him with living/medical expenses while he goes through this battle.