**Update 26/02/24**

WOW! Thank you so so much to everybody for their incredible generosity. Never in a million years did we think people would chip in this much and so quickly - even once we hit out target within a few days people were still donating and got us to this unbelievable total!

An update from us - Ellie has been through her chemotherapy now, which she did so acting like it was no big deal, and she is currently on the last week of her radiotherapy. The end is in sight! She's starting to pick up more gigs and it's looking like an exciting year. The fundraiser has, and continues to, cover her side of rent and bills, and means she has a bit more income to help cover the lack of gigs over the last 6 months. Having the safety net of this has been such a huge relief.

I (Flo) am continuing my medication for MS, which is going well, and having regular osteopath appointments. I find out in August whether the medication is working, so fingers crossed for positive results from the MRI scan.

We have kitted the house out with Ring alarms, a new back door and new locks so home feels like a safe space again. We've also used the fundraiser to replace stolen things, and Ellie's been buying records and building her music collection back up.

People's support and kindness means everything to us, with a lot of it continuing outside of this fundraiser so many months later. We're truly astounded by it all and can't thank you all enough.

❤❤❤❤❤

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2023 has been a tough year for myself (Flo) and my partner, Ellie. Last summer I had pain in my left eye and blurred vision for months. After numerous blood tests, a lumbar puncture and MRI scans I received an official diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis on 17th March. Since then I have undergone more blood tests and more MRI scans, and as of August (almost exactly a year on from my initial attack) I will begin taking a Disease Modifying Therapy, in which I inject myself once a month, in the hopes that it will slow the progression of the disease. Depending on how I react to this treatment, and the future of MS, I will need to take it for the rest of my life.

In February this year Ellie found a lump in her right breast so went for some scans, which revealed there was another lump. On 21st March, four days after my MS diagnosis, Ellie was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent a lumpectomy in May to remove the tumour and lymph nodes in her armpit. She had a severe infection after the surgery, which meant she had to go through further treatment and was in a lot of pain for weeks, with recovery taking much longer than anticipated. The stress from looking after her through this time also caused another flare up of my own symptoms, with loss of vision and the pain in my eye returning.

We received results back from Ellie’s surgery that 8 of the 13 lymph nodes removed had the disease, and as the cancer was aggressive and beginning to spread Ellie would need to undergo chemotherapy, radiotherapy of the area and the collar bone, and hormone therapy treatment. All of this treatment means that the surgery Ellie had scheduled to fix an ACL tear in her right knee has been pushed back a further two years, which will prolong the pain she has and limits her ability to do things she loves, such as football and other sports.

In July we were told that we would be able to go on holiday to Croatia, which we were worried we’d have to miss due to Ellie’s treatment. We hoped the holiday would provide some much-needed downtime before Ellie’s treatment started. Whilst out there our house was burgled, and every room in the house was searched, leaving our home turned upside down. We’re still trying to figure out everything that was taken, but we know he left with bags and bags of our belongings. We have since had the locks changed and the police are involved, but the worst part is knowing that someone was in our personal space and went through all of our personal belongings, including irreplaceable items like our grandmothers’ jewellery and 90% of Ellie’s record collection.

Starting this fundraiser was suggested by one of our friends once we told her about Ellie’s cancer and the impact on her ability to work during treatment, but with the burglary on top of that there are now more costs that we need to cover, along with loss of earnings.

Ellie’s chemotherapy will last for 16 weeks, and whilst Ellie is hoping she will still be able to do a few gigs here and there, it is unlikely she will be able to do all of them. Whilst recovering from surgery she had to cancel several gigs, and has already had to cancel a lot of gigs that were planned over summer and autumn, which is a huge loss of earnings for her. We will find out more about the radiotherapy treatment once Ellie has finished chemo, but it is likely there will be more down time during then.

How you can help!

Our incredible friends have been asking how they can help so we thought we’d bring it into one place. In short, we really need some financial help.

Ellie is only contracted part time at work, with the rest of her earnings coming from freelance gigs which she may not be able to do during treatment, so we will be at a significant financial loss during this time. We are eternally grateful for all the support already given and this fundraiser would be used to help cover:

-Loss of earnings during treatment and recovery (cancelled gigs from May until December works out to around £6,000)

-Rent & bills (we will use the loss of earnings to cover this)

-Replacing stolen items from burglary (Ellie had 100+ records stolen, and replacing these alone works out to be around £1,500)

-Things to help with both of our health, both mentally and physically (for the next 6 months this works out to be around £2,500):

-Therapy & counselling

-Supplements

-Gym classes

-Organic food

-Massages and osteopathic/chiropractic treatments (especially helpful for MS)

We’d also love to donate to cancer charities and the Multiple Sclerosis Trust.

Although we’re both incredibly strong people, neither of us know how this will affect us in the long term both mentally and physically. We also struggle a lot to ask others (even each other) for help, so this is a really challenging time for us, and has taken a lot for us to start this fundraiser. It likely wouldn’t have happened without the encouragement of our friends!

For those friends who have already helped us out, we truly appreciate everything you have done, it means so much to us both to know we have such amazing people in our lives. To those who have already raised money we will be adding leftovers to the pot to help us with the above. We’d like to say a huge thank you, and please don’t feel the need to contribute any extra.

Our friend Faye will be running the Brighton Marathon next April for us, as well as looking to host a fundraising event and auction (where the proceeds will go to this page) in Bristol towards the end of October as a way to have some fun and help out in amongst the terrible year we’ve had. More details to come!

Thank you for taking the time to read our story,

Ellie and Flo x

Ellie after her lumpectomy in May

Our bedroom after the burglary