As some of you may remember, we employed a young surveyor called James Willis who left my team on 2nd January 2017. James joined us on graduating and was with us for 18 months. He is a splendid fellow.

Tragically he has been in touch recently to let us know that on Valentine’s Day this year he was diagnosed with incurable Stage 4 cancer. I think he would be about 28 years old.

In James’ own words he describes what he is going through:

“Valentines Day'18 I got diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer. The Cancer is Soft Tissue Sarcoma (Cancer of the muscle). The reason for it being a Stage 4 Cancer is because it has spread from my arm to my lungs and it is incurable. The consultants have suggested that it is a non-preventable diagnosis which means it wasn't linked to lifestyle.

I'm currently going through a Chemotherapy programme to hopefully shrink the Tumours and then with all the positivity in the world have surgery to remove the Tumour from my arm and from my lungs. This will then take me into remission which I am praying endlessly for.

The weirdest aspect of this disease is that in myself I feel mentally strong and physically strong, in fact this is the strongest and most positive I've ever been, yet there is a disease killing me inside. Very strange....

One thing that has drastically changed in my mindset is that you never know what is around the corner, whether this being tomorrow or 10 years down the line. So why was I always living 5, 10, 20 years ahead of today? Why did I never think about the good things I have achieved to date and the good things that are happening right now? Rather than always thinking about what's next. What I'm trying to say is that you wake up, you're breathing, you're healthy (maybe not when you've had a heavy night on the booze), you have money in the bank, you have a job, you have an army of friends and family to give support, so live in the present and enjoy your life!!!!!! I'm currently waking up thinking, I'm breathing, then I put a nice big tick in the box and enjoy what I have in life!!!!!”

James’ ex-colleagues and friends at Gardiner & Theobald feel strongly that they want to help him to raise money to help him fund supplementary private therapies that he is keen to try alongside the excellent conventional treatment from the NHS. As you might imagine these are very expensive and difficult for him to afford.

The firm are hiring a static bike and doing sponsored cycle for a week staring on 23rd April. We aim to do 100 miles each day for 5 days taking shifts in the saddle but also plan to have an open invitation challenge between 13:00hrs and 14:00hrs each day where the goal is to complete 1 km in the quickest possible time. All entrants will be timed and a winner announced at the end of the week. All those cycling will be paying for the privilege and we are hoping for a generous response of donations from the wider G&T community.

On behalf of James, thank you for your support.