Dave’s Story…………

The Sad News:

On 11th August 2017 Our Beloved Dad…. David White (72) learnt that his prostate cancer which had initially been diagnosed some years ago has now reached the stage 7 (4+3) where medical intervention is now critical.

The Fairly Good News:

Having spoken to UK Consultants and Oncologists Handling Dad’s care there is positive news that this is treatable and possibly curable.

However::

Due to the location of this particular cancer there are a number of treatments available. The treatment (a combination of Hormone & Radiotherapy) comes with a very high risk of long-term issues due to considerable acute toxicities through high doses being delivered to adjacent non-cancerous tissues.

The side effects for treatment in the UK are described as "long-term complications such as double incontinence, sexual dysfunction, secondary cancers rectal bleeding to name just a few. The philosophy here in the UK for this type of cancer is that a 'good' outcome is curing the cancer, in Dad’s case this is not however it is manageable but with the very high probability Dad will live with long-term complications.

For Dad minimising the cancer is clearly a priority, but his long-term quality of life is paramount. There is an option to preserve long-term quality of life for all – Proton Beam therapy, which is an alternative form of Radiotherapy. 97% of patients that have this form of treatment are cured. All early studies for Proton Beam therapy point to patients gaining a higher quality of life during and more importantly after treatment, and for the patients we have spoken to (lots of research done) this certainly looks the best option. You can read more here… Proton Centre Prague

However, as you may have seen in the news over the last year this treatment option is not scheduled to be available in the UK until at least, 2018 although this will not be offered to prostate cancer patients.

Dad has decided that the treatments available here on the NHS are not worth the large risks. He feels he needs to choose a treatment that will give him the quality of life after treatment. Therefore, he has decided to choose the (Proton Beam Therapy Prague ) that offers this treatment and has experience in treating Prostate Cancer with a high success rate and better post therapy results.

All assistance is gratefully received:

Unfortunately, this treatment is not available on the NHS nor our health insurance will cover the treatment in Prague as it is not currently part of the UK multidisciplinary guidelines for alternative treatment for prostate cancers. Dad’s choices are, to accept the standard UK treatment along with high probability of long-term complications or we as a family personally fund the Proton Therapy treatment ourselves providing the best possible chance for Dad to be cured & reduce the risk of long-term complications. This is not even a choice, Dad deserves the best options available so that we can keep an amazing Father, Brother & Grandfather. Dave White is a caring and loving man who has always placed others above himself and I think now it is our time as a family to help him.

The Prague treatment costs £35,000 with the additional costs of flights, Accommodation for the 5 weeks he would need to be in Prague which needs to be paid upfront. We are hoping for treatment to start no later than February 2018.

We as a family will do all we can, but any help would be much appreciated… Dad, who has supported a numerous amount of Charity’s over his life time and fundraised for Children’s charities for those families with terminally ill children (Sending children to Disney in Florida called Child flight) he also a fond member of the Local Parish Church St Thomas (Pendleton Church) and supports the local fundraising communities. He has supported people all of his life but now Dad now needs help of his own. As a proud man he would never ask for help so we thought we’d do this to help fund his treatment. We will do whatever it takes to pull together the funds to get this secured. We would be very grateful to the Just Giving community, work colleagues, friends & family for any support you can offer us.

My commitment:

- Every single penny raised through this campaign will go directly to Dave’s treatment.

- We will regularly send updates and share milestones & Memories, so people can follow him and his journey through the treatment.

Proton Therapy will increase the chances of curing Dave’s cancer, it will also offer a better opportunity for the quality of life he deserves.