Hi all,

The year 2017 was a whirlwind for my family. In February I turned 30 years old and to celebrate my girlfriend Philippa took me away to Copenhagen to celebrate. Whilst we were there I used the holiday to surprise her and ask her to marry me... she said yes!

In the background of this she'd been noticing more and more a lump in neck and was having some test to work out essentially what it was. Unfortunately, a few weeks after our elation of getting engaged, Philippa was diagnosed with Thyroid cancer and they discovered a 4-inch tumour.

Suddenly we went from planning a wedding to planning on Philippa having an emergency 8-hour operation to open up her throat and remove the tumour and along with it her full thyroid gland. She sustained some vocal chord damage, but after 8 long weeks of bedrest and recovery, she recovered fully to find out the next stage in her journey.

In the November we had a beautiful wedding in Hexham joined by our family and friends. On our return from our honey moon, she went into having radioactive iodine therapy at the Northern Cancer for Care Centre in Newcastle. The staff were out of this world and I salute the NHS from the bottom of my heart for their tireless work.  

I'm happy to say in January this year we were told Philippa was in remission and it was one of the happiest days of my life.

Unfortunately, I've been on the other side of cancer too and lost my father tragically when I was in my teens so I understand the loss and damage cancer can bring. 

So to raise money for the all the people that helped my wife and our family, my workmates at hedgehog lab have made a pact to raise money to help all the other families who are suffering from Thyroid cancer by raising money for the Butterfly Thyroid Cancer Trust.

I hope you can help us hit and maybe even succeed our target by donating whatever you can afford... to help other people through it... and to celebrate my strong and beautiful wife Philippa who has beat cancer! ♥️