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I don’t know how to start or even imagine how to ask our families, friends or complete strangers for money. But unfortunately I am in a desperate situation to help save my dad. When it comes to my family I will do all I can in my power to try help them as much as I can, just as they have for me.
I’m sure all daughters say how amazing their daddy’s are. But mine he truly is! He is caring, funny, genuine, smart, giving, loyal, respectful, hardworking and loves his family and friends more than anything.
But to me he is just my dad and he is more special to me than anyone will ever know.
My dad has been given around 12 months to live however he has been accepted to go to Germany to seek Dendritic Cell Therapy/ Immunotherapy (http://www.immune-therapy.net/en/index.php ) to prolong his life and this is why I need your help. I know I can’t keep my dad for ever, But he’s only 50 years old and I have only had 24 years with him and I still have so much more of my life that I need to share with him. I need him to walk me down the aisle, I need him for his advice, his opinions, his love, his cuddles and mostly I want my 18 month old son to know his grandpa and to grow up with lots of memories of him. It’s not just me that needs him, but my fiancé Josh, my brother Shane (28) and his wife Bridget (26), Brett (21) and of course my beautiful mumma whom is my dad’s soulmate and have been married for almost 29 years.
Ever since I was a little girl I thought he was the strongest man I knew! And I still do to this day!He is a fighter and I know he will keep fighting to the end.
Dad being a mechanic all his life, his solution when something breaks is “it will be okay, if it breaks we can just replace it with a new part” just like with a car. Now that time goes on, I can see how weak and fragile his body is becoming and it’s not just a new part that will fix the problem this time.
I would like to share my dad’s journey from the past two years…..
In April 2013, my dad was diagnosed with cancer; they had found an 80mm tumour in his appendix. On 23rd May 2013 he underwent surgery; they removed 1/3 of his colon, appendix and 24 lymph nodes in a 5 hour surgery. The Biopsy revealed stage 3 C cancer and that 3 lymph nodes were cancerous. His recovery from surgery took approximately 5 weeks, then chemotherapy every week, for 6 months. Two weeks into chemo, a port had to be installed to keep up with the input of chemotherapy. Then in March 2014, my dad was given the best news. He was in remission and that everything should be fine with regular check-ups.
January 2014, my dad started to feel pain present and could feel a stitch like feeling on the left side of his belly.
Every 3 months, he followed up on check-ups with the surgeon and the oncologist, which were scans and blood tests, each time he was told he was clear even though my dad complained about increasing pain and discomfort.He was told that the lump that was growing was scar tissue and was told that he should not worry about it. The lump became the size of a golf ball and again was continually told it was only scar tissue and he was fine. During this time my dad tried over and over again to have a PET scan booked in (he also wanted to pay for this himself and they still would not allow this to happen) to get further clarification on what the "scar tissue" was.
September 2014 – the pain had increased and the "scar tissue" had increased in size to a point where it broke through the skin, being dad he could not take no for an answer any longer and demanded a PET scan and biopsy. They finally gave him a biopsy in late October 2014. Results followed in early November and not to his surprise came back as positive.
Followed by the positive results was a PET scan and this determined that the cancer had spread to the liver, pancreas, stomach wall, muscles in his stomach, stomach lining, liver, gallbladder, bile duct and further lymph nodes.
Surgeons and oncologists got together and quickly made the decision based on the scans and biopsy that dad had a reoccurrence of the original cancer which had spread throughout his body and made the decision that it was inoperable.
After the diagnosis, the team of doctors told dad the heart breaking news. He had a prognosis of 1 to 2 years.
Following this result, his body had started to shut down, dad’s bile duct and gall bladder stopped working and he had a stent inserted to alleviate the blockages.
In mid-November to December my mum and dad began researching alternative methods to treat this cancer as every doctor they had visited told them that there was no cure.
Both mum and dad researched a cure or treatment – something or anything that would keep him alive.
December 2014 - the team decided that the only way to prolong his life was to begin radiation therapy and chemotherapy. He had radiation therapy every day for two weeks during Christmas and New Year, and was also told he required chemotherapy for the rest of his life.
Mum and dad moved to Queensland In January 2015 to be closer to my little family, my baby brother and my grandma (Dads mum). After the move dad began chemotherapy in January 2015.
In late February he spent 11 nights in hospital due to an infection – what we didn’t know at the time this situation was life threatening and the doctors only told dad once he recovered from this event.
My dad’s present situation…On a daily basis dad is in constant pain and takes morphine tablets twice a day, endone 8-10 times a day, and the "scar tissue" wound is now an open wound. With the research mum and dad have done over the past few months and the present experience with doctors in Australia have them believing that they will provide no other alternative to cancer other than radiation and chemotherapy, whilst parts of the world such as Germany, have proven methods to treat this cancer such as Dendritic Cell Therapy.
As I see it, this will provide our family with some hope for dad surviving this. There is a 20% chance that they can stop the progression of the cancer and even reverse it. This is the only thing the Australian doctors will support dad with, as they said any other alternatives will not work and if this treatment is affordable dad should pursue this, and this may be the way cancer is treated in the future.
My mum and dad have been in contact with a clinic in Germany which performs Dendritic Cell Therapy and they have requested medical information such as blood tests, biopsy results, etc.
On Tuesday 5th May, dad called me to tell me the news I had been hoping for. This clinic has accepted him as a candidate. I know dad will never give up fighting this cancer but due to financial difficulties, with my dad not being able to work and my mum being his full time carer, it makes seeking the treatment in Germany very difficult. The reason I have shared this story is to raise as much money as possible to assist my mum and dad financially so my dad can receive this desperately needed treatment to hopefully prolong his life and make others with cancer aware that this treatment is available. Mum and dad have spent every cent they had saved on dad’s medicals, mortgage repayments and day to day living expenses.
Every cent donated will make all the difference in our lives and will help my family and especially my dad tremendously. Any amount big or small will be very, very appreciated. I will keep everyone updated with the treatment progress and any questions you may have.
.
I’m sure all daughters say how amazing their daddy’s are. But mine he truly is! He is caring, funny, genuine, smart, giving, loyal, respectful, hardworking and loves his family and friends more than anything.
But to me he is just my dad and he is more special to me than anyone will ever know.
My dad has been given around 12 months to live however he has been accepted to go to Germany to seek Dendritic Cell Therapy/ Immunotherapy (http://www.immune-therapy.net/en/index.php ) to prolong his life and this is why I need your help. I know I can’t keep my dad for ever, But he’s only 50 years old and I have only had 24 years with him and I still have so much more of my life that I need to share with him. I need him to walk me down the aisle, I need him for his advice, his opinions, his love, his cuddles and mostly I want my 18 month old son to know his grandpa and to grow up with lots of memories of him. It’s not just me that needs him, but my fiancé Josh, my brother Shane (28) and his wife Bridget (26), Brett (21) and of course my beautiful mumma whom is my dad’s soulmate and have been married for almost 29 years.
Ever since I was a little girl I thought he was the strongest man I knew! And I still do to this day!He is a fighter and I know he will keep fighting to the end.
Dad being a mechanic all his life, his solution when something breaks is “it will be okay, if it breaks we can just replace it with a new part” just like with a car. Now that time goes on, I can see how weak and fragile his body is becoming and it’s not just a new part that will fix the problem this time.
I would like to share my dad’s journey from the past two years…..
In April 2013, my dad was diagnosed with cancer; they had found an 80mm tumour in his appendix. On 23rd May 2013 he underwent surgery; they removed 1/3 of his colon, appendix and 24 lymph nodes in a 5 hour surgery. The Biopsy revealed stage 3 C cancer and that 3 lymph nodes were cancerous. His recovery from surgery took approximately 5 weeks, then chemotherapy every week, for 6 months. Two weeks into chemo, a port had to be installed to keep up with the input of chemotherapy. Then in March 2014, my dad was given the best news. He was in remission and that everything should be fine with regular check-ups.
January 2014, my dad started to feel pain present and could feel a stitch like feeling on the left side of his belly.
Every 3 months, he followed up on check-ups with the surgeon and the oncologist, which were scans and blood tests, each time he was told he was clear even though my dad complained about increasing pain and discomfort.He was told that the lump that was growing was scar tissue and was told that he should not worry about it. The lump became the size of a golf ball and again was continually told it was only scar tissue and he was fine. During this time my dad tried over and over again to have a PET scan booked in (he also wanted to pay for this himself and they still would not allow this to happen) to get further clarification on what the "scar tissue" was.
September 2014 – the pain had increased and the "scar tissue" had increased in size to a point where it broke through the skin, being dad he could not take no for an answer any longer and demanded a PET scan and biopsy. They finally gave him a biopsy in late October 2014. Results followed in early November and not to his surprise came back as positive.
Followed by the positive results was a PET scan and this determined that the cancer had spread to the liver, pancreas, stomach wall, muscles in his stomach, stomach lining, liver, gallbladder, bile duct and further lymph nodes.
Surgeons and oncologists got together and quickly made the decision based on the scans and biopsy that dad had a reoccurrence of the original cancer which had spread throughout his body and made the decision that it was inoperable.
After the diagnosis, the team of doctors told dad the heart breaking news. He had a prognosis of 1 to 2 years.
Following this result, his body had started to shut down, dad’s bile duct and gall bladder stopped working and he had a stent inserted to alleviate the blockages.
In mid-November to December my mum and dad began researching alternative methods to treat this cancer as every doctor they had visited told them that there was no cure.
Both mum and dad researched a cure or treatment – something or anything that would keep him alive.
December 2014 - the team decided that the only way to prolong his life was to begin radiation therapy and chemotherapy. He had radiation therapy every day for two weeks during Christmas and New Year, and was also told he required chemotherapy for the rest of his life.
Mum and dad moved to Queensland In January 2015 to be closer to my little family, my baby brother and my grandma (Dads mum). After the move dad began chemotherapy in January 2015.
In late February he spent 11 nights in hospital due to an infection – what we didn’t know at the time this situation was life threatening and the doctors only told dad once he recovered from this event.
My dad’s present situation…On a daily basis dad is in constant pain and takes morphine tablets twice a day, endone 8-10 times a day, and the "scar tissue" wound is now an open wound. With the research mum and dad have done over the past few months and the present experience with doctors in Australia have them believing that they will provide no other alternative to cancer other than radiation and chemotherapy, whilst parts of the world such as Germany, have proven methods to treat this cancer such as Dendritic Cell Therapy.
As I see it, this will provide our family with some hope for dad surviving this. There is a 20% chance that they can stop the progression of the cancer and even reverse it. This is the only thing the Australian doctors will support dad with, as they said any other alternatives will not work and if this treatment is affordable dad should pursue this, and this may be the way cancer is treated in the future.
My mum and dad have been in contact with a clinic in Germany which performs Dendritic Cell Therapy and they have requested medical information such as blood tests, biopsy results, etc.
On Tuesday 5th May, dad called me to tell me the news I had been hoping for. This clinic has accepted him as a candidate. I know dad will never give up fighting this cancer but due to financial difficulties, with my dad not being able to work and my mum being his full time carer, it makes seeking the treatment in Germany very difficult. The reason I have shared this story is to raise as much money as possible to assist my mum and dad financially so my dad can receive this desperately needed treatment to hopefully prolong his life and make others with cancer aware that this treatment is available. Mum and dad have spent every cent they had saved on dad’s medicals, mortgage repayments and day to day living expenses.
Every cent donated will make all the difference in our lives and will help my family and especially my dad tremendously. Any amount big or small will be very, very appreciated. I will keep everyone updated with the treatment progress and any questions you may have.
.