Hi my name is Beata Julga-Baluta, I am 36 years old and I live in West-Yorkshire, England. My native country is Poland but I have been a resident in the UK for over 10 years now. I enjoy all aspects of life but most of all I enjoy my family and especially my cute little labrador (Archie) and this is why I am writing to you all, for my goal is to hold onto the ones I adore for as long as possible.

Unfortunately in November of 2016 I was diagnosed with bowel cancer. This was a complete and utter shock to me and my family, it was unimaginable and the worst possible news anyone could receive. I was informed that I had two tumours, one which was 9cm in diameter and the second at 7cm. The surgeons immediately introduced a colostomy to prevent further complications/avoid blockages within my bowel. Both tumours were too large to attempt to remove them and so I underwent a course of chemotherapy. The aim was to shrink them in order to remove them safely via open surgery. After my first course of chemo the mri/ct scans showed that they had shrunk but were still too large (5cm&7cm) and so I had to undergo another course of chemo with radiotherapy alongside it too. Once the second course was over I was then hit with some more devastating news.... the cancer had spread into the surrounding lymph nodes. On the 3rd December I went under the knife with the aim to have all the cancer removed and the surrounding lymph nodes. After the surgery I was incredibly weak and the fight was unbareable. It was at this point my family were told that I had months left to live or even less if my organs didn’t start to recover. A couple of weeks passed and my overall condition was deteriorating, I lost so much weight that I was unrecogniseable, the pain and the agony grew with each day that passed. On the 23rd December I was taken back in surgery for a life saving procedure, somehow my bladder had managed to twist itself and was causing me to be severely ill. The surgery was high risk and carried a 50/50 chance that I wouldn‘t make it but I had no choice, I had to have the procedure done otherwise I would lose everything. Luckily the surgery was a success and I made it through the other side, I gradually began to recover and I slowly started to gain weight again. After a few weeks passed the medical staff agreed that I could return home and that I would receive daily care from the district nurses. With the help of my mother, the nurses and the TPN (nutritional substitute) which I take on a daily basis I have been managing to get my life back to just a little bit of normality.

Yesterday (11/06/2018) I receieved the results from my latest mri/ct scan, it’s something that‘s been haunting me for months and the results are devastating, my cancer has returned.... it’s returned to the very spot it was removed from but it has also now spread to my lungs. My consultant has informed me that the only options left for them are symptom control (palliative care) with chemo and pain relief.

I for one do not wish to give up and simply accept that it will take over my body and this is why I am making a desperate plea to you all, I wish to seek treatment elsewhere in the world and I know that the treatment, if found will likely be most expensive. So I ask you all, please take a hand with me on this fight and help me to overcome this, any donation great or small will be grately appreciated and forever indebted and if anyone has any advice on where to find further speicialist treatment then please email me at Beatajulgafund@gmail.com

Thank you for your support