Help Una
Donation protected
Una’s fight with cancer
Una is my wife. Her fight with cancer started on 13 August 2020. We will never forget the day when the doctor told us that she has cancer, and it is in the last stage with no operation to cure it. We were told that there might be only several months left. It is hard to imagine how great the shock was for us. We immediately fell into an ocean of hopelessness and a rain of tears. As a sincere Christian, Una is not afraid of death. At the same time, she is very young, only 33, and loves her husband and her three girls (Anya 7, Bella 5 and Leila 2) so much that she cannot give up. When I first met her, she said to me that she didn’t like medicine and always refused to have any medicine when she caught a cold or had a small health issue. However, now she can swallow tens of tablets every day and bear the strong side effects of chemotherapy.
Though she tried very hard, the first line of chemotherapy did not work for her. Now she is doing the second-line of chemotherapy. She managed to bear the side effects. Her doctor at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary told us that Una will run out of options if the second-line of chemotherapy does not work. However, we believe God is with us and will give more time to Una.
With all the love, I, as her husband, just cannot stop searching for all the possible treatments for her. One of treatment options is Ramucirumab, a novel targeted therapy recommended by our Christie oncology specialist, a senior professor. Unfortunately, it is not available in the NHS, and it is not cheap. Ramucirumab costs around £8000-£14000 per cycle, and Una would need 6-8 cycles in total. The total estimated cost is about £110,000. The professor at Christie also recommended another treatment called LONSURF treatment, another type of chemotherapy. Again, it is not available in the NHS. The estimated cost of the whole circle of LONSURF treatment is about £10,000. The good news about Ramucirumab is that there are cases reported with long-term survival due to successful Ramucirumab and Paclitaxel therapy. The reports are available through the links:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30692316/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30283289/
We extremely desire, with your help, to raise £110,000 to give Una a whole cycle of Ramucirumab treatment. It is a frightening amount but any contribution big or small would be a huge help and incredibly appreciated. If the entire cycle of Ramucirumab treatment is not completed for any reasons, the remainder of the money will be used for:
1. Other treatments like LONSURF treatment in Christie;
2. Treatments in China (We are thinking of going back to China for some different treatments and we have to pay for this.);
3. Cancer care charities such as ST JOHN'S HOSPICE https://www.sjhospice.org.uk/ or Cancer hospital like The Christie https://www.christie.nhs.uk/ .
Please feel free to share this page with anyone else who knows Henry (Shaohua) HE and Una (Siyun) ZHANG or whomever you think might like to help.
Husband's Story
Mom and Girls
One day, Anya (our oldest girl) asked, “Mom, will you be at my birthday?”
Her mom answered, “Yes, I will, I promise.”
However, Anya doesn’t seem sure of her mom’s promise. She knows her mom is very ill and that mom could leave her at any time.
When they have this conversation, they both have tears in their eyes.
Sometimes, Una told me that she feels hopeless. I told her that she is very important to God, to the girls, and to me. Her daughters always talk about their birthdays, and they want their mom to be there. I tell Una, “If you can give them one more birthday, it will make a big difference to them. If you can have two more years, you can give them two more birthdays. You mean the whole world to them.”
My wife and I
The most desirable and dreadful things
One day, Una had a conversation with me. She asked, “What is the thing you are most looking forward to doing?” I answered: “It must be that someday I will go to heaven to meet you and wait for our girls to come later to have a family reunion there.” When saying this, I cannot stop my tears. I continued, “You must joyfully wait for me to come. One day I will surely come to heaven to look for you. I will find you and recognize you there. We, as a couple, will live together there happily forever.” She said to me, “I was not a good wife and I did not cherish you before.” I replied, “No, you are a good wife. You give up everything in China and come to here Lancaster to look after girls and me. As a wife and mother, you did everything you can. I am the one who did not cherish you. If I did, you would not suffer all the pains. I promise I will be the one who cherishes you the most in heaven.”
Another day, Una asked me about the thing I dread the most in the future. I said this must be that I cannot be with her and grow old together. When I said this, I was already raining tears. She is so touched and starts to cry. In fact, Una is always worried that I will be lonely when I am old. She said she is so lucky and so happy to have me as her husband. Because of this, she has no regrets about her life. I said, “Do not worry about me. I still have 20 more years to care for our lovely girls, and have much more to contribute to our big family and to society. When I feel lonely, I will miss you.” She then said she could not imagine a picture in which I was alone as an old man. She told me she would want me to marry again. However, I told her, “There are some things I can only do once in my whole life and one of them is marriage. I will not marry anybody else in the future.” Una replied, “No, you need a person to chat and to support each other when our girls leave you for college education”. When saying this I cannot bear the tears. I said, “Do not worry about me. I promise I will live well alone. I know how to live alone and deal with loneliness. Before I met you, I was alone for 30 years. I had not attempted dating before I met you. You were my first date and then my wife. You will be the last one. Besides, I have our girls who can bring me comfort and happiness.”
Sometimes, I think about going to heaven together with my wife so that we will not be split on earth and in heaven. However, our girls are so young, sweet, and considerate. It is my duty to look after them. If I go to heaven with my wife, who will look after them? They will be very poor! I then give up that thought.
Our villages and love story
When I think of doing things without Una, especially traveling back to our villages in China, I cannot stop my tears because this reminds me of all our memories there. That is the place where our whole story starts. It brings my memory back to 2010 when we fell in love at first glance. The picture in which we first met is so vivid that I can never forget. We first met each other in my parents’ house because her older sister married my older brother. After that, we had our first date and became each others’ first loves. Our love is so pure that it must be our God who arranges this. Again, four years later, it is our God who brings us to Lancaster. Here, Lancaster University offers me a job opportunity. Thanks to our God, we become Christian in Lancaster.
Travelling back to our home villages in Hunan Province, China is always the best thing in our lives. We can have our big family reunion there once a year. It is very hard for me to imagine traveling without her. Our girls always look forward to traveling to China. However, due to various reasons, we haven’t met our large, extended family since August 2018. Una’s parents greatly look forward to seeing her, but they might not be able to see a healthy daughter; they may not be able to see her again. I know this reality is so cruel and will hurt them so much, but I am powerless to change this.
Friend's Story
My name is Rachel Wilson. I have been friends with Una for the past few years, but it feels like I have known her much longer! We became good friends after the first time we met, and have enjoyed many happy times together as well as with our families. Her 3 little girls (Anya 7, Bella 5 and Leila 2) are very precious to us and are much loved by me and my family.
When Una told me that she had stomach cancer I was in shock. When we found out it was stage 4 and there was no way they could operate I was completely devastated. I was with her when the consultant told her that there was nothing they could do to remove the cancer other than hope that a course of chemotherapy would “buy her a bit more time”. I will never forget sitting with them, holding little Leila, watching helplessly as Henry and Una crumpled with grief as the Consultant explained the aggressive nature of her cancer and that she only had a few months left to live.
Una is just 33. She and Henry have loved seeing their daughters start to grow and develop their individual characters. Like all parents, they have talked about the future of their girls as well as their future as a couple, making plans, talking of places they would like to go and things they would like to do and see. Sadly, these hopes and dreams have come crashing down.
Una has a sure and certain hope in God. She knows that when she leaves this world, she will walk straight into the arms of her savior Jesus and be safe with him forever. We spend a lot of time talking about heaven and what it will be like and she looks forward to being there, but she feels sadness for her girls who will be without their mummy and worries for Henry who will feel so lost without her. We spend much time talking and crying about her girls and Henry and I try and comfort her. I reassure her that we will do everything we can to love and care for her family when she is gone. We pray together and ask God to ease the worry and pain she feels as a mother.
Henry is such a loving and supportive husband who is desperate to find a way of keeping Una with him and the girls for as long as possible. After months of losing hope, Christies told them that there is a new drug that could possibly help treat the type of cancer that Una has. Unfortunately, it is not provided through the NHS and it costs thousands of pounds to get it privately. Please consider if you could help to give this precious little family the possibility of Una seeing her girls have their next birthdays and do some of those things they have talked about as a family.
Una is my wife. Her fight with cancer started on 13 August 2020. We will never forget the day when the doctor told us that she has cancer, and it is in the last stage with no operation to cure it. We were told that there might be only several months left. It is hard to imagine how great the shock was for us. We immediately fell into an ocean of hopelessness and a rain of tears. As a sincere Christian, Una is not afraid of death. At the same time, she is very young, only 33, and loves her husband and her three girls (Anya 7, Bella 5 and Leila 2) so much that she cannot give up. When I first met her, she said to me that she didn’t like medicine and always refused to have any medicine when she caught a cold or had a small health issue. However, now she can swallow tens of tablets every day and bear the strong side effects of chemotherapy.
Though she tried very hard, the first line of chemotherapy did not work for her. Now she is doing the second-line of chemotherapy. She managed to bear the side effects. Her doctor at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary told us that Una will run out of options if the second-line of chemotherapy does not work. However, we believe God is with us and will give more time to Una.
With all the love, I, as her husband, just cannot stop searching for all the possible treatments for her. One of treatment options is Ramucirumab, a novel targeted therapy recommended by our Christie oncology specialist, a senior professor. Unfortunately, it is not available in the NHS, and it is not cheap. Ramucirumab costs around £8000-£14000 per cycle, and Una would need 6-8 cycles in total. The total estimated cost is about £110,000. The professor at Christie also recommended another treatment called LONSURF treatment, another type of chemotherapy. Again, it is not available in the NHS. The estimated cost of the whole circle of LONSURF treatment is about £10,000. The good news about Ramucirumab is that there are cases reported with long-term survival due to successful Ramucirumab and Paclitaxel therapy. The reports are available through the links:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30692316/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30283289/
We extremely desire, with your help, to raise £110,000 to give Una a whole cycle of Ramucirumab treatment. It is a frightening amount but any contribution big or small would be a huge help and incredibly appreciated. If the entire cycle of Ramucirumab treatment is not completed for any reasons, the remainder of the money will be used for:
1. Other treatments like LONSURF treatment in Christie;
2. Treatments in China (We are thinking of going back to China for some different treatments and we have to pay for this.);
3. Cancer care charities such as ST JOHN'S HOSPICE https://www.sjhospice.org.uk/ or Cancer hospital like The Christie https://www.christie.nhs.uk/ .
Please feel free to share this page with anyone else who knows Henry (Shaohua) HE and Una (Siyun) ZHANG or whomever you think might like to help.
Husband's Story
Mom and Girls
One day, Anya (our oldest girl) asked, “Mom, will you be at my birthday?”
Her mom answered, “Yes, I will, I promise.”
However, Anya doesn’t seem sure of her mom’s promise. She knows her mom is very ill and that mom could leave her at any time.
When they have this conversation, they both have tears in their eyes.
Sometimes, Una told me that she feels hopeless. I told her that she is very important to God, to the girls, and to me. Her daughters always talk about their birthdays, and they want their mom to be there. I tell Una, “If you can give them one more birthday, it will make a big difference to them. If you can have two more years, you can give them two more birthdays. You mean the whole world to them.”
My wife and I
The most desirable and dreadful things
One day, Una had a conversation with me. She asked, “What is the thing you are most looking forward to doing?” I answered: “It must be that someday I will go to heaven to meet you and wait for our girls to come later to have a family reunion there.” When saying this, I cannot stop my tears. I continued, “You must joyfully wait for me to come. One day I will surely come to heaven to look for you. I will find you and recognize you there. We, as a couple, will live together there happily forever.” She said to me, “I was not a good wife and I did not cherish you before.” I replied, “No, you are a good wife. You give up everything in China and come to here Lancaster to look after girls and me. As a wife and mother, you did everything you can. I am the one who did not cherish you. If I did, you would not suffer all the pains. I promise I will be the one who cherishes you the most in heaven.”
Another day, Una asked me about the thing I dread the most in the future. I said this must be that I cannot be with her and grow old together. When I said this, I was already raining tears. She is so touched and starts to cry. In fact, Una is always worried that I will be lonely when I am old. She said she is so lucky and so happy to have me as her husband. Because of this, she has no regrets about her life. I said, “Do not worry about me. I still have 20 more years to care for our lovely girls, and have much more to contribute to our big family and to society. When I feel lonely, I will miss you.” She then said she could not imagine a picture in which I was alone as an old man. She told me she would want me to marry again. However, I told her, “There are some things I can only do once in my whole life and one of them is marriage. I will not marry anybody else in the future.” Una replied, “No, you need a person to chat and to support each other when our girls leave you for college education”. When saying this I cannot bear the tears. I said, “Do not worry about me. I promise I will live well alone. I know how to live alone and deal with loneliness. Before I met you, I was alone for 30 years. I had not attempted dating before I met you. You were my first date and then my wife. You will be the last one. Besides, I have our girls who can bring me comfort and happiness.”
Sometimes, I think about going to heaven together with my wife so that we will not be split on earth and in heaven. However, our girls are so young, sweet, and considerate. It is my duty to look after them. If I go to heaven with my wife, who will look after them? They will be very poor! I then give up that thought.
Our villages and love story
When I think of doing things without Una, especially traveling back to our villages in China, I cannot stop my tears because this reminds me of all our memories there. That is the place where our whole story starts. It brings my memory back to 2010 when we fell in love at first glance. The picture in which we first met is so vivid that I can never forget. We first met each other in my parents’ house because her older sister married my older brother. After that, we had our first date and became each others’ first loves. Our love is so pure that it must be our God who arranges this. Again, four years later, it is our God who brings us to Lancaster. Here, Lancaster University offers me a job opportunity. Thanks to our God, we become Christian in Lancaster.
Travelling back to our home villages in Hunan Province, China is always the best thing in our lives. We can have our big family reunion there once a year. It is very hard for me to imagine traveling without her. Our girls always look forward to traveling to China. However, due to various reasons, we haven’t met our large, extended family since August 2018. Una’s parents greatly look forward to seeing her, but they might not be able to see a healthy daughter; they may not be able to see her again. I know this reality is so cruel and will hurt them so much, but I am powerless to change this.
Friend's Story
My name is Rachel Wilson. I have been friends with Una for the past few years, but it feels like I have known her much longer! We became good friends after the first time we met, and have enjoyed many happy times together as well as with our families. Her 3 little girls (Anya 7, Bella 5 and Leila 2) are very precious to us and are much loved by me and my family.
When Una told me that she had stomach cancer I was in shock. When we found out it was stage 4 and there was no way they could operate I was completely devastated. I was with her when the consultant told her that there was nothing they could do to remove the cancer other than hope that a course of chemotherapy would “buy her a bit more time”. I will never forget sitting with them, holding little Leila, watching helplessly as Henry and Una crumpled with grief as the Consultant explained the aggressive nature of her cancer and that she only had a few months left to live.
Una is just 33. She and Henry have loved seeing their daughters start to grow and develop their individual characters. Like all parents, they have talked about the future of their girls as well as their future as a couple, making plans, talking of places they would like to go and things they would like to do and see. Sadly, these hopes and dreams have come crashing down.
Una has a sure and certain hope in God. She knows that when she leaves this world, she will walk straight into the arms of her savior Jesus and be safe with him forever. We spend a lot of time talking about heaven and what it will be like and she looks forward to being there, but she feels sadness for her girls who will be without their mummy and worries for Henry who will feel so lost without her. We spend much time talking and crying about her girls and Henry and I try and comfort her. I reassure her that we will do everything we can to love and care for her family when she is gone. We pray together and ask God to ease the worry and pain she feels as a mother.
Henry is such a loving and supportive husband who is desperate to find a way of keeping Una with him and the girls for as long as possible. After months of losing hope, Christies told them that there is a new drug that could possibly help treat the type of cancer that Una has. Unfortunately, it is not provided through the NHS and it costs thousands of pounds to get it privately. Please consider if you could help to give this precious little family the possibility of Una seeing her girls have their next birthdays and do some of those things they have talked about as a family.
Co-organizers (10)
Shaohua He
Organizer
England
Yupeng Lin
Co-organizer
Cheng Zeng
Co-organizer
Ke Wang
Co-organizer
Yuyan Guan
Co-organizer