Thank you for visiting my fundraising page.

On Thursday the 3rd October 2019 I will be taking to the catwalk in aid of the charity Breast Cancer Care at “The Show” in London, along with 31 other models who like me have a breast cancer diagnosis.  Why did I even put my name forward?!  If you know me, you will know that fashion is not me, and being on a catwalk in front of hundreds of people is plain mad, but that’s exactly why I’m doing it, because cancer changes you.  After the enormity of the diagnosis and the severity of all the treatments you learn to work out what’s important in life, and you learn to make the most of each and every day.  So I embrace the new ‘normal’, laugh, have fun and do mad things especially if they are for a good cause.  I’m asking you to show your support for an important charity, Breast Cancer Care, so that they can help others with breast cancer.  Have a look at their website www.breastcancercare.org.uk  They provide amazing support and advice to the men and women who are diagnosed and living with breast cancer, and fund research into the prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer. There is support specifically for people like me with secondary breast cancer which has proved truly invaluable to my wife Beth and I.   

Just under 4 years ago I found a tiny lump smaller than a pea under my right nipple after I got crushed and bruised by one of my patients, a dairy cow.  And so began the rollercoaster year.  First surgery, a mastectomy plus the lymph nodes removed from my armpit, then 5 months of chemotherapy, a month of radiotherapy and finally starting 10 years of hormone therapy.  On the plus side during chemo I didn’t have to shave for months - brilliant!  And thanks to a Cold Cap (see picture) I got to keep the hair on my head which meant I didn't look quite so ill when collecting my children from school - awful, awful brain freeze, ice in my hair each time it came off! 

Then just as I was beginning to get my life back on an even keel my brother died following an aeroplane accident, and brought our world tumbling down.  A few months later, when I thought I had no fight left in me, breast cancer returned, this time in my lungs.  From who knows where I found the resilience to pick myself up and face whatever was thrown at me.  So back to square one.  More surgery to remove parts of my lung and strip out lots of associated lymph nodes.  This second operation made the first one look like a walk in the park. I woke up in intensive care with every sort of gadget and tube attached to all sorts of my anatomy.  Beth will never forget that day, when in front of her and with no warning, I crashed and went very blue.  I vaguely remember watching the managed ‘panic’ of the doctors and nurses all around me trying to keep me alive.  I shall always remember two other things: hallucinating on morphine, and being visited by an Australian physio, who on seeing the new scar on my back exclaimed “Looks like you have been bitten by a shark David, albeit a very tidy one!”  

As I have secondary breast cancer and cannot be cured, I will remain on life long treatment.  My new drugs are doing great things keeping the cancer quiet (for now).  On the flip side there are side-effects of everything I have been through and continue to go through - poor immunity, brain fog, chronic fatigue, painful feet, hands, and ribs, mouth ulcers, inflamed eyes, an arm that will always need protecting from even small cuts and scratches, and so on which means I was medically retired at 47 years old.  Now even my hairy chest is disappearing!  Whatever next?!  That's enough complaining!

So if scruffy old me can find the guts to step onto a catwalk in London in ‘glitzy’ clothes then I reckon it's fair for me to ask you to donate something, however small, to Breast Cancer Care through this Just Giving page.  You can also come to the show and see me and the other 31 models in action!  You can buy tickets to either the afternoon or evening events by following this link - www.breastcancercare.org.uk/get-involved/social-events/show-london-2019  

And at the very least if you have read this far, then this page has succeeded - check your boobs, that includes all you men too!  And enjoy yourself each and every day.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.