Hello, this is Debbie and Keith, Luke’s parents, and Yuri, his partner. We're fundraising on behalf of Luke for his potential future cancer treatments.

If you know Luke and his story, you're probably aware of his selflessness and his past achievement of raising over £62k for his chosen charity, Melanoma Focus, by walking the entire coast of Wales. His charity instagram page

If you don't know about Luke let us give you some background story: he was originally diagnosed with melanoma back in 2014, when a peculiar-looking mole was found on his back. This turned out to be cancerous, and it was quickly cut out. Fast forward to late 2019, when he found another weird mole, this time on his arm. This also turned out to be cancerous and it was surgically removed. Unfortunately, his cancer managed to spread throughout his body via his lymph nodes, and it was now stage IV.

Things were really hard in the beginning, when he grew increasingly ill. He even had to be hospitalised for about three weeks back in 2020. Thanks to a mix of treatments, first immunotherapy then targeted treatment, Luke finally managed to be classified as NED (no evidence of disease) and although the following word is not widely used in cases like his due to his cancer being incurable, he was practically in remission.

-This lasted approximately 3.5 years-

01/11/2023 - Luke suffered a seizure while walking in Central London and was hospitalised. The team at UCH ran various tests including a CT scan of his head and an MRI, sadly finding at least 7 metastases in his brain. This is of course devastating, but if you know Luke you also know how quickly he managed to grab this incredibly difficult situation and turn it around with his positivity and fighting spirit.

A message from Luke "This is a post I didn’t ever want to have to think about, let alone actually write, but I’m taking a break from fundraising for Melanoma Focus and have officially closed My BIG Cancer Walk activity.

Recently, my health has taken a turn for the worse. A few weeks ago, while on my own walking in London, I started to feel a weird sensation, I tried to call out while hanging onto some railings and next thing I knew, I’m in an ambulance all confused.

I’d suffered a seizure, bleeding from the mouth from severely biting my tongue and soaked from wetting myself. I was rushed to UCL hospital where I spent the night, not initially telling anyone to avoid stressing anyone out.

Following a CT scan it was confirmed I have 7 cancer metastases in my brain. Going from all clear 3 months ago with no organ involvement, this was a huge shock, and a lot to get my head around. I always understood prognosis was poor once it hits the brain however there are many positive stories out there with people living for many years, so I am still positive.

After lots of meetings and more scans it was agreed that I would have 1 round of SRS radiotherapy to zap the little buggers out of my brain. Fast forward to 31st November, the day after my radiotherapy session, and I am back in hospital, having had 3 more seizures.

REALITY CHECK: I’ve now been told once I begin to build resistance to the current targeted treatment I’ve been on for the last 3.5 years (patient medium response is 12-14 months) and relapse, there will no more options through the NHS.

While all of this has been going on, my family and friends have started fundraising for my possible future private treatment, should I need it. The truth is, this is now looking more increasing likely.

I was hoping to rechallenge with immunotherapy, but I don’t meet the bureaucratic NHS (NICE) criteria. There may be trials or funding down the line, but this isn’t guaranteed. Self-funding is now my only future lifeline, and 4 infusions of immunotherapy costs £100,000.

So, with a heavy heart, but a strong conviction to keep fighting the only way I know how, I would like to ask you to join me on the next stage of my Melanoma journey, My BIG Cancer Fund."

We know there is a huge army of people out there who have followed his story from the beginning, and if you are one of those people or if you are just finding out about this right now and would like to support him by donating, we would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We mean it, this means the world to us.

Please help us help Luke. He has always given people a reason to smile, he gives others hope and encourages others to live a great life whilst going through their own personal cancer journeys. We are eternally grateful to all of you.

Debbie, Keith & Yuri

⬆️ Luke as we wait for PET scans to be done. ⬆️

⬆️ In order, Luke after suffering three additional seizures, Luke as he wears his SRS radiotherapy mask (check his cheeky smile underneath!), and Luke as he gets scanned. Plus his new logo, MY BIG CANCER FUND ⬆️