An Intro from Elliot

Hi, I'm Elliot (that's me above with my beautiful little family — and also with a new giant scar across my head and some pretty impressive staples).

My siblings, Lauren and Ross, have kindly put this fundraising page together for me because they know I'm not the sort of person who would normally make something like this public, or ask for help. But, like most people, I never imagined I'd find myself in this position.

Last month, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 glioblastoma - a brain cancer with a poor prognosis.

Hearing the words "we've found a mass on your brain" is devastating. Hearing that the diagnosis comes with an average life expectancy of just 12–18 months, even with radiotherapy and chemotherapy, is something no person or family is ever prepared for.

Since receiving that news, I've cried more days than not. Partly because I'm scared of the unknown, but mostly because of what I might miss.

My family are my whole world. My wife, Erica, our daughter Aluna (5), and our little son Ocie (1), mean everything to me. I want to watch Aluna continue to grow into the kindest, most beautiful soul. I want to be there to guide her, support her and cheer her on through life. I want to see Ocie ride his first pedal bike and watch him grow into the cheeky little lad we're already starting to see emerge.

Most of all, I want to be here. I want to be their dad for as long as possible.

My heart also breaks for Erica. Alongside being an incredible mum to our two beautiful children, she's carrying the weight of this diagnosis and facing a future neither of us ever imagined. We should be planning decades together, not navigating conversations like these.

Despite everything, the kindness already shown to me and my family has been overwhelming in the best possible way. The support, generosity, encouragement and love we've received from family, friends and people we've never even met has meant more than I can properly put into words.

While I undergo radiotherapy and chemotherapy over the coming months, we're also doing everything we can to give ourselves the best possible chance of more time together as a family. I'm not ready to accept that my story is over, and I want to explore every avenue available to me in this fight.

Every message, share, donation and act of support helps more than you know, and I am incredibly grateful for every single one.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story and for supporting my family.

With love,

Elliot xxx

Fundraising for Elliot

Hi everyone. This is Lauren and Ross, and we’re writing to ask for your help.

Our family has just received the sudden and devastating news that our brother Elliot has an aggressive form of brain cancer called Glioblastoma, which carries a life expectancy of 12 to 18 months with standard treatment. These are bleak statistics that none of us are willing to accept, so we’re raising £150,000 for Elliot to access new immunotherapies which may significantly improve his chances of survival.

Just a month ago, Elliot was a fit, healthy 35-year-old dad working hard to provide for his young family. With their 5-year-old daughter Aluna and baby Ocie at home, he and his wife Erica already had their hands full. Then, over the course of just a few days, Elliot developed a heaviness and tingling in his right arm and hand. This was initially put down to repetitive strain from working as a tiler. Within 24 hours, he began dropping things and struggling to text and write, so he took himself to A&E in Barnstaple to get it checked. A brain scan showed a 3cm x 3cm tumour in the left frontal lobe of his brain. A week later, he was in Derriford Hospital in Plymouth undergoing emergency neurosurgery - an awake craniotomy to remove as much of the tumour as was safe to do so.

Unfortunately, what followed were multiple seizures, a brain bleed requiring further surgery, and extra time in the High Dependency Unit. Thankfully, he is now back home with his family.

Over the next few months, Elliot will undergo radiotherapy five days a week for six weeks, alongside chemotherapy through the NHS. While these treatments can slow the disease and extend survival, the heartbreaking reality of glioblastoma is that it almost always returns. Glioblastoma is one of the hardest cancers to treat. It can resist treatment and avoid the usual responses from the immune system. This cancer spreads aggressively through star-shaped microscopic tendrils which weave into healthy brain tissue, making it almost impossible to remove completely without damaging the parts of the brain responsible for movement, memory, speech, and personality. This is why recent advances in immunotherapy, precision medicine and personalised cancer vaccines are giving families like ours so much hope. These treatments are designed to help the immune system recognise and attack the cancer cells left behind after surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. There are no guarantees, but some people who have received these treatments are still alive and have no evidence of disease years later. We desperately hope Elliot can be one of them.

Those of you who know our family will understand why we’re not prepared to give up on Elliot. Ten years ago, I (Lauren) was diagnosed with stage IV melanoma at 30 years old, with a 5% chance of survival at 5 years. After many surgeries the cancer kept returning and we were forced to prepare for the worst. It seemed like a desperate long shot when a promising new immunotherapy called Pembrolizumab became available on the NHS, but I was fortunate to be one of the first patients in the UK to receive it outside of a clinical trial. There were no guarantees that it would work, but within five months I was in remission. Ten years later I am still here, cancer-free, because of it. It felt like a miracle, but I am living proof that even when the statistics are terrifying, sometimes access to the right treatment at the right time can provide a second chance at life.

This same immunotherapy, Pembrolizumab, has also shown some early promise for Glioblastoma, but it isn’t yet available on the NHS. With private funding, Elliot can access this treatment in Germany, alongside a personalised vaccine which can teach his immune system to target the cancer cells directly, sparing the precious healthy tissue nearby. Based on the information currently available to us, we expect the costs associated with these treatments to be approximately:

This gives an estimated treatment cost of approximately £130,000. We have set our fundraising target at £150,000 to allow for additional specialist consultations, molecular testing, scans, pathology review, travel, and treatment-related expenses that may arise as we navigate the months ahead. At the moment, we are exploring several different vaccine approaches, including CeGAT, DCVax-L, and IOZK, and are speaking with experts to understand which option will give Elliot the best chance according to his tumour type. Additionally, Elliot will focus on his diet, which will include a number of recommended supplements, and we will utilise other supportive treatments.

If you know Elliot, you’ll know him as one of the best humans - warm, loving, kind, loyal, adventurous, and with endless love for his family. He’s the sort of person who’s always there for others and never asks for anything in return. This is the first time in his life our little brother has been the one who needs help. The thought of Aluna and Ocie growing up without him is something we don’t want to imagine, and we’ll move mountains to give them as many birthdays and Christmases with him as we can.

We are so grateful to you for taking the time to read Elliot's story and for helping us give him the best chance possible.

With love and gratitude,

Lauren & Ross Macdonald