This page is to remind everyone of our incredible journey in the fight to save dads life.
I will continue to keep you informed of latest scans and progress and hope any information you find here may be helpful to you too.Stay tuned ;-)
20/07/08
The site has only gone live in the last few days so I am still in the middle of promoting it, however I would like to say a big thank you to the few people who have already been here and made a donation, you are the ones who have got the ball rolling and we appreciate it very much and are touched by your kindness. Thank You.
I obviously still have a very long way to go yet but are hopeful that others will follow your lead.
I am sorry I cannot always reply personally to everyone who makes a donation but please know both dad and I DO appreciate it.
25/07/08
Donations are coming in very slowly but it is still early days and I have more promotion to do. The last week has been very busy so not much time for anything else. On the 21st dad and I went to the hospital to see the oncologist to find out what they could do and to find out how bad this cancer is. It was not the sort of news anyone wants to hear. The only treatment they can offer is chemo BUT this will not cure it, this will only give him an additional 12 months! The cancer dad has, is the most aggressive form of melanoma and they say there is nothing more they can do! For anyone, this sort of news is hard to take in, the mind is a very powerful thing and dealing with it when someone says that can be very difficult and doubts can creep in. However, dad took it really well and is dealing with it, we are both staying very positive and working together to get him to the Issels centre, this is the best chance he has right now. We see no reason why he cannot become a survivor of cancer, it has worked for many others and can work for him too. The race against time is on and with YOUR help we can WIN.
A little more about the treatment we are looking at.
Along with a raw food diet, juicing and a nutrition program, the Issels centre offers a vaccine called Immunotherapy. Having done research on Immunotherapy we found an article from the Telegraph June 08 where it shows a man having survived cancer by being on a trial for Immunotherapy right here in the UK. It amazes us that trials have been going on for this in the UK for a few years now, YET it is still not being made available. They say they still need more research! However, they are not using this in conjunction with diet and nutrition which in our finding plays a HUGE role in the fight against cancer. If Immunotherapy ever becomes available in the UK we strongly suggest you do this in conjunction with a good diet and nutrition program.
Our tip to anyone looking at an alternative route, is to decide before you go to see your oncologist that no matter what they say, it will make no difference to what you have planned, they may not be able to help you but they can not possibly tell you how long you have to live, only YOU can decide on that and only YOU can do what ever it takes to change your situation and find another way forward. Go prepared for the worst and if the news is better than you thought, its a bonus. Don't lay down and die, you don't have to. Stay positive no matter what and keep fighting.
31/07/08
The clock is ticking and I am now at the point of trying to raise the money for dad via a few loans from various people. Before doing this we had to make sure we had a plan in place to pay that money back a soon as possible and fortunately for us we might be able to do that from a sale of a property from our extended family, however this takes time although there is a buyer for it so it will take about 3 months before its final. Of course we cannot wait 3 months! Now we have this in place we can safely ask a few people we know for a short term loan however we are still going to be short, so donations make all the difference or if you know anyone who could help with a small short term loan (this will be contracted in writing legally) then please ask them to get in touch with us quickly.
For now dad is still eating his raw foods and juicing each day, although this helps, its not enough and he needs to be in the hands of experts to get the right amount.
10/08/08
More days have passed and we are still trying to raise some loans due to one falling through. On to plan B..... We are now having to re-mortgage my parents house but again this will take about 4 weeks, we have no problem in getting the funds this way but its more time wasted where dad could be having treatment so we are still trying to find some lenders. We are just £5,000 short of what we need now to get dad to the Issels centre, it may not seem very much but it is when you do not have anymore left!! We have learnt a lot in the last few weeks, especially about other people and how they react, true friends really come out and help and we are so very grateful to them for their support in what we are doing and for their financial help. We are also very grateful to those who have made a donation, every penny is helping.
I think the biggest lesson has been not to rely on anyone but yourself and any help you get from anyone else is a bonus, appreciate those who do help.
I have had the pleasure of having contact with another family who are also going through a similar ordeal with regard to cancer. Their 13 year son Liam Fairhurst has cancer BUT he is a remarkable person and has raised huge amounts for cancer charity. He is so selfless and simply wants to help anyone he can. He has won many awards and his latest one was being the winner of the channel 5 competition "Britain's kindest kid" He totally deserved it too ;-)
Liam's mum Sarah has been very kind to us too and helped by giving us tips for fund raising, she was a complete stranger to us at the time and caught up in their own fight but still bothered to reply and to help. With her permission to do so, I would like to share some quotes from Sarah's emails.
"We are very sorry to hear your plight, we have also had to fight every step of the way for treatment and have also had to look at the USA."
"The best advice we could give is to get media attention to your fundraising. we've raised loads thru their input."
"I read your site, if I had £30K I would give it to you!!!"
"There are groups such as the 2SIMPLE TRUST (something like that) who can also help in fundraising. They are currently doing a lot for the JACK BROWN APPEAL"
"I know Liam would agree with this keep fighting, keeping your dad well and positive is paramount. We as a family send you all our love and prayers and hope you get the funding to give your dad the chance he deserves.
"Take care and hang in there. Liam sends his love and told me to tell your dad "don't let the b######## get you down." He's actually had the saying put in Latin on a t-shirt it actually translates to something like "ILLEGITIMI NON CARBARUNDUM" (most probably spelt all wrong.) Needless to say his consultant doesn't appear to know the meaning! He is definitely very cheeky!!!"
"SARAH (liams mum)"
We want to thank Sarah and her family once again for their help and support and we send our love to Liam and hope his treatment goes well.
Good luck Liam and keep up the good work!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP AND SUPPORT, YOU ARE A TRULY INSPIRATIONAL FAMILY.
28/08/08
Well its been a couple of weeks since I last updated this and unfortunately there have not been any changes to us getting a loan, we are still £5,000 short of what we need for dads treatment. Its such a hard position to be in and very frustrating although we remain positive that someone will help us out with the final part.
During the last couple of weeks we have learned so much more and have also had more set backs. We finally got mum and dads house in our names (the children!!!) and now are applying for a remortgage on the house to pay back loans from the people kind enough to help us out, another set back with this is that it will actually take about 6 weeks now, not 4 weeks as we first thought! Oh well, it will happen eventually!
As far as learning goes, we are learning more about the importance of the correct food all the time and more about nutritional needs, the differences between ordinary and organic, more about taking the correct minerals etc. We are also looking at every day chemicals we come into contact with that can be absorbed via the skin into the body like bleach, soap, shampoo, skin care products, perfumes etc, there is a lot of nasty stuff in some of these and none of it helps. The more natural we can find the better all round is what we are finding.
Recently dad went to see a local alternative therapist while we are waiting for funds, she has been excellent and again we are learning more from her and will most likely continue to see her even after dad has been for his treatment as we feel he will continue to benefit greatly from her.
Once again we would like to thank those of you who have donated recently, we appreciate your kindness and support so very much.
06/09/08
Get the drums out, blow your trumpets, strum the guitars and have a party!
YES, FINALLY, Dad will get the treatment he so deserves.
What a huge relief for us, dad and myself (Soozi) are booked, we fly out early Thursday 11th September. We have had a few people recently help out by loaning us the last money we needed for this and we are so very grateful to them. We cannot begin to explain the huge pressure we have been under, unless you are someone who has been or is experiencing the same, all we can say is PREVENTION. Do what ever you can NOW to remain healthy because we wish this upon no one. Going through this with dad has changed our lives and the way we eat and live but its much better to change now, than be forced by any illness.
So, the treatment will begin and its a whole new experience, all we can do now is hope this works, there are no guarantees when it comes to this, everyone is different, everyone reacts in different ways but one thing we do know is it has worked for many, many others and it can work for dad too. We remain positive and I will keep you updated on his progress but for now, please keep the donations coming in, it does not stop here, this is only one battle for one person, we have more people we want to help. YOUR donations are important not only to us but to those less fortunate and every penny IS helping. Raising funds is something dad and I intend to continue doing and we are also looking at other options where we could possibly help in the funding for other individuals wanting to take the same path that we are taking in alternative treatment.
Please do continue to help us in helping others - We Still Need Your Donations For This To Work!
Thank you to everyone for all your help and support
23/10/08
It's Party Time!
Wow, what a journey it has been and what an amazing place we have been. The Issels centre we attended was actually in Playas De Tijuana, Mexico, just over the border from San Diego.
As you may be aware from reading through this site, here in the UK, the doctors said the cancer our dad had was malignant Melanoma which had metastasised (spread) to his lungs, they said there was absolutely nothing the could offer and they gave up on him saying he had approximately 1 year to live and there was no cure for his type of cancer!
No cure? Total rubbish!
Well after 4 weeks of intensive, ALL NATURAL treatment, dad had his latest scan.
Unlike the UK, the doctors did not tell us anything, they SHOWED us the scan, in fact they showed us the original from the UK (which we had not seen before) and the new one so we could compare the two and they explained it all in detail.
We were not expecting miracles but did hope to see that we had either stopped it from getting worse or maybe that it had reduced slightly. Not the case, having had over 100 small tumors on his lungs, the new scan showed that every single one had completely GONE, Dad is in REMISSION. You can only imagine the shock and the emotions. We are absolutely thrilled and very happy that we didn't give up hope and made the decision to go there.
We cannot describe on here what this hospital is like but we can tell you its unlike any hospital we have ever been too and we would recommend it to anyone without any hesitation, we were both treated amazingly well, so much so that we did not want to leave (have you ever heard of anyone NOT wanting to leave a hospital!?!)
We cannot thank the doctors, nurses and staff enough for the kindness and fun they showed us. The atmosphere at the hospital was one of hope, cancer is not a death sentence there, people talk about cancer with ease and all the patients are there to live, not to die!
We also met many people from all over the world, some from Australia, Canada, UK, Barbados, USA etc and have become life long friends with many of them.
What this has taught us is that things need to change, people have a right to know that there are alternatives out there for them, there are cures for many people with cancer and too many people are dying because they simply don't know, they do not have to accept everything their doctor tells them as being the only truth. Cancer does not have to be a death sentence and a second opinion could save a life and we highly recommend people look into this properly.
What we have now decided to do is to continue to raise money to try and help others who wish to go to this amazing hospital, those who financially would struggle to raise the funds yet deserve the help. In the near future we intend to write a book about the whole experience to help others understand just what the hospital is like and what they can expect from it and to reveal the shocking truth about the cancer cure cover up which happens here in the UK and many other countries. We hope it will help people understand more and help those thinking about going to make their decision to actually go and get the help that could save their life too.
As for dad, he is doing great, he came back with a home care program from the hospital, they want reports each month and a scan result sent to them in 3 months time and will monitor his progress for the next 5 years! We intend to go back to the hospital for a face to face, free follow up in 6 month time and to be honest, we cant wait, we are looking forward to going back there and seeing everyone again.
Since being back home, dad has been to his GP who showed no emotion at all about the news and was of very little help. About the only thing he said was "well as you never gave up I will refer you back to the oncologist" To us that is a disgusting reaction and comment to make. I guess to them, dad was supposed to accept, give up, go home and die! Well thankfully we did not give up and now we think its time to change GP ;-)
Once again, thank you to everyone who has supported us and donated already, YOU helped save our dads life and for that we are eternally grateful, we could not have done it without you.
THANK YOU!
See dads Testimonial Here
10/04/09
Since our original trip to Mexico dad has had a birthday and is now the ripe young age of 76 and is enjoying his second chance at life.
Its been 6 months since we were last at the issels centre and Dad and I (Soozi) have just been back there for his follow up. It was great to see everyone again and they all seemed pleased to see us too. The doctors and nurses were as usual, happy, helpful, caring and fun.
We met with some people we had seen there before and it was good to see them again too.
Back on 6th February dad had another scan which we sent to the Issels centre and while we were there this time, they again showed us the results. Dad is still in remission and clear of cancer. He continues to follow the home care program and is doing really well.
We would like to say a heartfelt and Special thank you to Mrs Issels for continuing with the great work of her late husband Dr Issels and for the support love and care she has shown us.
Thank you also to all the doctors, nurses and staff for the work they do. You are all remarkable.
We also wish the very best to all the patients and companions, you are in our thoughts and we want nothing more than to see you gain great results as we have, whatever you do, don't give up ;-)