I never thought I would have to be doing something like this but here I am. Where do I start? I suppose the day I met Lee would be a good place. We met under strange circumstances in Tesco's car park, we clicked straight away and went for a coffee (I had a hot chocolate as I can't stand coffee!) we chatted away for a couple of hours and then both went home. We chatted over the phone most days the following week and then met for a meal. It was then I realised I'm going to fall in love, marry and spend the rest of my life with this man, the feelings were so different to anything I've ever experienced before, I'd found MY true love. What made this better was the next time we met again for a meal Lee said to me 'I'm falling in love with you' This was just so bizzare, its was like a dream or a movie. After a few months I booked flights to take him to France to meet my parents. HIs face when I told him was a picture but he was well up for it. We had a fabulous time and my parents loved him too. That's the thing about Lee he has this thing about him that is so infectious you can't not love him, he has the most amazing sense of humour and enlightens any room, he's kind, loving and would do anything to help anyone he is my world and anyone who knows him will say the same and more. Then 3 years later we were hit with the devastating news and Lee was diagnosed with a rare type of Peritoneal Cancer.

Lee is a father to 4 (Kayleigh, Katie, Liam and Kelsie aka Bella) stepdad to Dennon, Grandad to 6 soon to be 7 (Jayden, Mia, Freddie, Bonnie, Louie, Mya and soon to be Lucus) and Step Grandad to 1 (Lilly-Mae) Brother to 3 (Cheryl, Allan and Theresa) and son of Maureen.

In November 2019 Lee's stomach started to bloat and he kept telling me that I was over feeding him and making him fat and tbh this wasn't something that we really took any notice of. Christmas came and went and through January the bloating got worse. On 28th January 2020 Lee came home from work early in a lot of pain in his stomach the following day he went to the GP who put it down to acid reflux and prescribed Lansoprazole. I returned home from work on 29th January to find Lee doubled over in pain, we went to the GP again on 30th and saw the nurse who after examining Lee called a doctor in, Dr D examined Lee and then explained to us that he was extremely concerned and this was not acid reflux. He called the Royal Derby Hospital and told us to go straight there where Lee was admitted to the Surgical Assessment ward. Lee had blood tests, was prodded and poked and sent for a CT scan, they allowed me to stay with him until just before midnight when I had to go home, at this point he still hadn't been down for the CT. The CT was done during the night and my phone started ringing at about 0430 in the morning which is when they told Lee that he had stomach cancer and the bloating was cause by fluid that was leaking possibly from the liver. I went straight to the hospital when they said I could go in which was about 0900 we both just lay there heartbroken it was a lot to get our heads around. Later that day he went to have a camera down his throat into the stomach to take a biopsy to determine the source of the tumour, we finally got home about 2330 that day. We returned to the hospital on 10th February 2020 to have the fluid drained but unfortunately because of where it was it was too risky to do without a surgeon present we were sent home and asked to come back on the 13th February 2020 when they drained 3.4 litres of fluid and took 2 further biopsies as the camera down his throat did not determine the source of the tumour but they thought it could have originated in the colon. therefore another appointment was arrange for a colonoscopy. All of the test results and scans were then sent to a specialist Peritoneal unit in Basingstoke. That's when it became a waiting game!

Finally the first week in April we had a reply from Basingstoke and they recommended chemotherapy to try and reduce the disease although due to COVID-19 and chemo affecting the immune system they couldn't tell us when this could start. In the meantime while we were waiting to seethe oncology consultant Lee had numerous appointments with the Palliative care consultant to keep the pain under control he was put on morphine patches which really seemed to work alongside liquid morphine. Eventually on 13th May 2020 we got to see the oncology consultant who went through everything with us, we were told that without treatment Lee had maybe a few months to live but then in the next breath said that his chemo wouldn't be able to start for 3-4 weeks! Obviously I was fuming about this, I had already done alot of research and read numerous case studies when I explained this they were quite shocked at how much I knew! Lee was taken out of the room to be weighed and have his bloods taken it was then that I asked what the worst case scenario was. I was shocked, I was told that it could only be a few weeks which I refused to believe my reply was 'Just because more people die than don't doesn't mean that Lee cant be one of the survivors' The sister for the Chemo ward stood up and walked out she came back 5 minutes later and had arranged for his picc line to go in 2 days later and his chemo to start on the 18th May (result) He was on FOLFOX chemo every other week and would have 12 sessions, his first would be at 80% to see how he tolerated it. His CEA which is tumour level was at 79.8 and he would have a baseline CT scan on 19th May to see the progression of the disease from the CT in January.

The first chemo went well and I was allowed to attend aswell as it was his first one. Lee was very tired for a few days following it but overall tolerated it very well.

The second treatment went on to full dose and after having bloods his CEA had gone down to 29.7 which was showing that the treatment was doing its job so cycle 3 could go ahead. After his third treatment his CEA had dropped again and was now 14.8. The chemo was now starting to take its toll abit now with tiredness weight loss and pain which had to be controlled with medication. Cycle 4 and the CEA had fallen to 9.3. Cycle 5 CEA down to 7.8, cycle 6 CEA down to 7.2 (happy days) Lee was now only 9stone 10lb down from his original weight of 13stone 6lb, having neuropathy (pins and needles) in his hands and feet, starting to feel quite weak and not really wanting to eat. We remained positive and determined to beat this evil disease. Another CT scan was done 28th July 2020 and sent to Basingstoke for review at their MDT meeting to see if he can be considered for peritoneal surgery (now another waiting game) Lee's consultant and our local team had their MDT and have said that his bloods are reassuring, his CEA is continuing to drop and there has been a reduction in the fluid build up and to continue with chemo until we have a response from Basingstoke. Cycle 7 and CEA down to 4.8. Unfortunately cycle 8 had to be postponed as Lee was not well enough to have it and 3 blood clots were found in his arm so he had to have his picc line removed and another put in as well as being put on blood thinners (injection twice a day) cycle 8 took place the following week but at a reduced dose of 80% and the CEA rose to 5.4 and his weight had dropped to 9stone 3lb. Cycle 9 and still no response from Basingstoke regarding CT scan done in July! its now October!! CEA had dropped to 5. Cycle 10 and CEA has rose to 5.8, bloods all fine so fine to go ahead with next treatment. Finally Basingstoke have responded and would like Lee to have the full 12 treatments and another CT scan which they will review after cycle 12. Cycle 11 and 12 went ahead and a CT scan took place on 9th November 2020. Our local MDT took place the following day and they said that the disease was stable, images were sent to Basingstoke for their review. Knowing that were going to have to wait a long time for a response from Basingstoke we made the decision to continue treatment with Capecitanine chemotherapy tablets (we didn't want to give the disease chance to take hold and knew we would have to take the rough with the smooth) this meant taking the tablets for 2 weeks then having a week off. The tablets did not work well with Lee and he was very poorly taking them but he refused to stop them and was determined this was not going to beat him. The first course took its toll and Lee was unable to many everyday things such as making a cuppa or getting dressed without help. After the first round his CEA had risen to 10 which was a bit of a setback but he now had a week off of those horrible tablets which was nice! On the 11/12/2020 Basingstoke finally had their MDT meeting (as advised after cycle 12 of FOLFOX) so now another wait for the response) The 2nd round of the nasty tablets and again Lee was not well at all with taking them. After the consultants meeting his CEA had risen again and was now on 21! Finally 23/12/2020 the response was in from Basingstoke and they said it would not be beneficial to do the de-bulking surgery, not a great Christmas present! (maybe if they'd hadn't have taken so long and given the disease time to grow this would have been a different story) We made the most of Christmas and had lots of fun.

I asked for a second opinion and Lee's records and scans were sent to Good Hope in Birmingham (so now another wait for that one) Round 3 now of the nasty tablets which to be fair wasn't quite as bad as the first 2. Another CT was done 29/12/2020 and a consultant meeting arranged to discuss our views. We had that meeting and decided to switch back to intravenous chemo while awaiting the outcome from Birmingham. Lee's picc line was put in on 25/01/2021 with chemo to start on 01/02/21 (this chemo is FOLFORI) this wasn't the best but far from the worst that Lee had been through and unfortunately the CEA had now risen AGAIN to 71! so not far of where we started (all of the delays mostly due to COVID19 which it states on the medical records) makes you think all the pain and heartache that we had already been through was really for nothing, Lee was now loosing a lot of weight (he will be wearing my jeans at this rate!) this is when we decided that we needed to raise money to give the man I love the best chance he can have. (It was my sister Jenny who came up with the idea as she signed up to run from Lands End to John o Groats and raise money for Lee)

21/02/21 Cycle 1 of FOLFORI (here we go again) unfortunately there was a kink in the line of the pump that Lee comes homes with which meant that he had not actually had the full dose, he was quite well until day 6 when the tiredness hit and he had to spend more time resting than normal. Good Hope have had their MDT meeting and said that he could not yet be considered for surgery due to the volume of small bowel serosal so fingers crossed that the chemo starts to shrink the disease, his weight is now down to 8stone 11lb. His pain has got worse and he is now on a 150mg Fent patch to keep this under control. Cycle 2 and the CEA is down to 40 (happy days) Cycle 3 and the CEA is down to 19.4 but Lees weight is now down to 8stone 1lb as he is finding it very hard to eat and keep food down, the chemo is really starting to knock him about now. My main aim now is to get some weight back on him so I did a bit of research and was soon cooking high calorie meals and keeping a food diary (only problem here is that I'm going to end up putting weight on!!) The following week his weight was up to 8 stone 12lbs..Cycle 4 and the CEA is down to 18.9 only a small reduction but on the right track, Cycle 5 the CEA is down to 18.7 so is quite stable and his weight up to 9stone 6lbs. Cycle 6 was delayed due to Easter Monday bank holiday and the CEA has risen to 23.8, cycle 7 was also delayed due to the bank holiday and the CEA has risen again to 29.9. Lees weight was up to 10stone 11lbs which was making the chemo a bit easier on him as his body was stronger. Cycle 8 went ahead as planned although the CEA has risen to 57.9 and their was a build up of fluid which needed draining, unfortunately the fluid was unable to be drained due to where it was. Lee started to pick up quite a lot and his weight was now up to 10stone 13lbs, we went out for a meal with friends and this was the first time Lee had worn jeans in ages and was comfortable.

Cycle 9 went ahead followed by a CT scan, Lee developed a blood clot in his lower arm and had to go back to blood thinning injections twice daily which was a cause for concern but still he wasn't phased by this. Cycle 10 and the CEA had dropped slightly to 55. After Cycle 10 Lee began to suffer more discomfort and pain and after a review with his palliative care consultant it was decided to come off the fent patches and go onto morphine tablets (the fent patches weren't sticking properly due to the heat and Lees passion for sunbathing and sweating!!) This is when I decided to take time off from work to care for Lee full time. The CT scan showed irregular liver outline (but nothing to worry about) and the disease appeared to be stable and CEA has dropped to 50.5. After seeing the oncology consultant Lee was given the go ahead to have cycle 11 but unfortunately he wasn't feel well enough to cope with it. Bloods again to see if he can have cycle 11 (after his break from it) bloods were fine although CEA has risen to 89 so we decided that if he was well enough he would go ahead at a reduced dose of 80% this didn't happen as he was not feeling well enough to go through the intrusion that chemo does to the body. Another oncology consultation where we discussed another form of chemo (again tablets) the consultant told us that this would be quite invasive and make him more drained than he already is. We were still of the view 'we are gonna beat this' and opted for a small break before starting Lonsurf chemo.

During this break we decided to get married (should have been in August 2020 but due to COVID didn't happen) It was a very emotional and beautiful day and I felt like the luckiest girl alive to now be Mrs Button the wife to the most amazing man in the world.

We had an appointment with the oncology consultant late September and bloods to make sure everything was ok to start on the Lonsurf chemo and by this time Lees weight had gone down to 7 stone 13lbs and his CEA has risen to 145, his bloods were in range that he could start the Longsurf on 8th October and he was determined to beat this.