Story
My brother Dean and his wife Cacilda both live in Brazil with their one year old son, Bernardo. Dean met his wife Cacilda 14 years ago through a friend who invited him to Brazil for a holiday. They fell in love quickly and they were inseparable, and decided to make their life together in Brazil (as much as we miss him).They wanted to have a child together but sadly this proved impossible. They tried for six years when they were told that they had a less than 5% chance that she would be able to conceive. One year later, fate made a miracle and Cacilda became pregnant with Bernardo. On Bernardo's first birthday, what should have been a beautiful day Cacilda received her breast cancer diagnosis. She was told she would have to undergo intense radiotherapy to have a chance of beating her stage 3 invasive breast cancer. 12 weeks later after months of tests, Dean was diagnosed with lymph node melanoma which may have spread. Both Dean and Cacilda need treatment at the same time to save their lives. Bernardo is one years old and they have no financial or family support in Brazil without either of them being able to work. Dean could have treatment in the UK which could give him a better chance of survival and give Cacilda and Dean support from us, their family to look after Bernardo so they can both have the treatment they need to live to see their son grow up. Without the money to do this, they are stuck on the other side of the world, having to choose one of them to have life saving treatment, risk losing their home and leaving their son without a mother or father. More than anything, my family want to pay for Dean and his family to come home, but the cost of flights, accommodation, food and bills when they arrive we cant afford without help. Our lives have been so afflicted by cancer. My husband was diagnosed last year with a rare aggressive cancer, we are still waiting to see if treatment has worked, whilst trying to support my brother thousands of miles away.