Nicola, Charl & Nicole's page in memory of Dom Horacek
Nicola Marks is raising money for Stand Up To Cancer - a Cancer Research UK campaign
In memory of Dominic Horacek
Story
As many of you
know, my big brother Dom Horacek tragically passed away on Friday
January 30th 2015 at the very young age of 40. He lived in Australia and
leaves behind a gorgeous little girl aged 5. I still have to pinch
myself to believe this actually happened.
His story is one of a rare and aggressive cancer that took hold very quickly. He was diagnosed with a benign spinal cord tumour in August 2014 which was successfully removed and we thought life was back to normal.
However within months, we were devastated to discover that the tumour had grown back but this time it was a "malignant schwannoma" cancer.
I flew out to Australia to be with him just after he started his chemo. We were all ready to take on the fight and we spent time together preparing and planning how best to tackle his treatment. But for whatever reason it just wasn't meant to be. Life can be so unbearably cruel and unexpectedly Dom fell into a coma the night I was on my flight back to the UK.
It turns out that I was absolutely blessed to be with him and my parents the week that I visited, because he tragically passed away so shortly afterwards.
The doctors were astounded by the speed that the cancer had spread from his spine to his brain. In Doms case, we just didn't have time to fight it.
I can't stress enough how vital research is with rare cancers - unfortunately new formations of cancer are appearing all the time and more studies need to be done.
Dom was a larger than life character and he embraced the outdoor Australian lifestyle. I wish to commemorate Dom by running up the stairs of three of London's tallest buildings (The Gherkin, The Heron Tower and 200 Aldersgate Tower), sprinting 5km between the towers and then abseiling down 200 Aldersgate Tower! This is something that I know he would love and smile from above at the challenge that we have set ourselves.
My wonderful dear sister in law, Charlotte Solomon and Nicole Fels are also taking on this challenge with me and we're jointly raising money for charity.
His story is one of a rare and aggressive cancer that took hold very quickly. He was diagnosed with a benign spinal cord tumour in August 2014 which was successfully removed and we thought life was back to normal.
However within months, we were devastated to discover that the tumour had grown back but this time it was a "malignant schwannoma" cancer.
I flew out to Australia to be with him just after he started his chemo. We were all ready to take on the fight and we spent time together preparing and planning how best to tackle his treatment. But for whatever reason it just wasn't meant to be. Life can be so unbearably cruel and unexpectedly Dom fell into a coma the night I was on my flight back to the UK.
It turns out that I was absolutely blessed to be with him and my parents the week that I visited, because he tragically passed away so shortly afterwards.
The doctors were astounded by the speed that the cancer had spread from his spine to his brain. In Doms case, we just didn't have time to fight it.
I can't stress enough how vital research is with rare cancers - unfortunately new formations of cancer are appearing all the time and more studies need to be done.
Dom was a larger than life character and he embraced the outdoor Australian lifestyle. I wish to commemorate Dom by running up the stairs of three of London's tallest buildings (The Gherkin, The Heron Tower and 200 Aldersgate Tower), sprinting 5km between the towers and then abseiling down 200 Aldersgate Tower! This is something that I know he would love and smile from above at the challenge that we have set ourselves.
My wonderful dear sister in law, Charlotte Solomon and Nicole Fels are also taking on this challenge with me and we're jointly raising money for charity.
I wish it wasn't the case, but sadly we all know of people that have been affected by cancer. Stand Up To Cancer is
a charity that focuses on research for new unknown rare cancers which
sometimes don't even have a name. However big or small, we'd be so
unbelievably grateful if you could help us - no one should have to die
so young when they have their whole life ahead of them.
Massive thank you in advance to you all .... Nic, Charl & Nicole xxx
Massive thank you in advance to you all .... Nic, Charl & Nicole xxx