Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I've been diagnosed with cancer in Dec 2011 and have lately been given a prognosis of 6 to 18 months to live. I don't want to give up, and after long research I've found a place that promises to cure my sarcoma and give much longer to live, the Oasis of Hope Hospital in Mexico. The treatment is quite costly, that's why I'm fundraising and appealing to all of you out there and your good hearts. Below is the full story of what happened.

 

 

My name is Francesco, I'm 51 years old and live in Nottingham. I've been a

musician and sound engineer my whole life, playing lead guitar in rock bands or

working as soundman. I was born in Italy and moved to the UK 16 years ago to

pursue my musical career.

I'm best known in the British music scene as Frank Joe Perry, as for the past 10

years I've been impersonating Joe Perry with the Toxic Twins, UK based Aerosmith

tribute band.

 

My history with cancer started at the end of 2010. I began suffering from a very

acute toothache and went to see a dentist. I was treated for an apparent infection

and even had 2 teeth extracted, but the pain just wouldn't go. In August 2011 I

started to develop a swelling on my right cheek, very close to the nose, but it was

only in December the same year that I was referred to a specialist and found out

the swelling was in fact a tumor. This was only days after my father passed away,

and my father in law had also passed away weeks before.

 

In January 2012 the final diagnosis came, I was affected by a malignant

myofibroblastic sarcoma that extended from the right upper jaw to the cheek,

meaning that the swelling on my face was only part of the tumor, which had first

developed inside the jaw and palate. In the meanwhile the swelling kept

growing until my face was almost unrecognisable. 

I was first referred to a Head and Neck specialist team with a view to surgically

remove the tumor, but the MRI scan I had done showed that the tumor itself was

too big to operate right away and I was also told about a few worrisome "dots" on

my lungs, which were apparently too small to be assessed.

I was referred to an oncologist and underwent 7 weeks of radical radiotherapy,

hoping that this treatment would shrink the tumor down to an operable size.

The 2 months of radiotherapy have been the worst time of my life. I was in so

much pain that I had to take strong doses of morphine everyday just to keep going,

I was constantly exhausted, lost a lot of weight and rarely left the bed other than for

going to the hospital to get treatment. I've risked losing my right eye, which had

become extremely itchy and sore and my eyesight had also been affected.

My girlfriend Terri had to quit her job too to look after me. It's been an incredibly

tough time for both of us. The medication I was on had turned me into a ghost, a

shadow of my former self.

 

At the end of the treatment the swelling on my cheek had gone right down,

which made me hopeful about upcoming surgery and moving towards the solution

of this problem. They let me rest for 4 weeks and then took a second head and chest

CT scan. A week later, on the 24th of May 2012,  I went to hear about the CT scan

result from my oncologist. I was a bit nervous but also quite confident that the

treatment had worked, but the world was about to come crashing down on me

and Terri. The oncologist came in the consultation room, sat down and told us that

the "dots" on the lungs had grown in size and new ones had appeared which

meant the tumor was now metastatic and therefore they would not put me forward

for surgery. She gave me a prognosis of 6 to 18 months to live and offered

chemotherapy or clinical trials as the only thing they could do for me.

 

 

Needless to say Terri and I were totally devastated by the news, we just went

home and cried. But then something happened. Up to that point we had told only a

few people about my disease, so we started to tell our friend and look at alternative

cancer cures online. The response we got has been amazing, friends from all over

the world started to email us tons of links about nutrition, herbal remedies,

complementary therapies and videos with stories of people who had been

successful at beating cancer. I realised that I needed to take back control over my

own health rather than just listening to the doctors. 

I decided to refuse chemotherapy. I threw away all my medications and got

started on a new diet and supplement program plus some complementary

therapies, which includes hyperbaric oxygen sessions, Iscador, acupuncture,

exercise and meditation. A totally new regime that has given some amazing

results in the sense of my wellbeing and recovery. I'm looking to start soon on

High Dose vitamin C and hyperthermia treatment.

The best solution for me would be a treatment offered by a Mexican Hospital

called Oasis of Hope. They've dealt with many cases of metastatic sarcoma and

have an extremely good rate of success, with most patients still alive and well after

more than 5 years.

 

This is the reason why I'm appealing for your help. The treatment in Mexico would be

based on 4 cycles with a month rest in between the basic cost is $40,000 plus any

extra scan, lab work and therapy to be paid on top of that. Realistically I will need

at least $60,000 - around £40,000 - put aside to pay the hospital plus pay for 4

return flights from the UK to Mexico to complete the treatment, which is way over my

budget.

 

My new diet and complementary therapies regime is already costing me over

£1,200 per month, and I need to put together the money to go to Mexico. I'm

selling everything I can of my musical equipment, but even by doing that I will only

raise a fraction of the amount needed. I'm appealing to all of you to please donate

whatever you can to help me to go to Mexico, as my life depends on it. I will be

hugely grateful of any donations, no matter how small.

 

I don't want to give up,…I'm going to fight this disease with my whole being, and I

hope that my message can bring some hope to anybody else out there who is

fighting a similar battle. 

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

 

Love and Hope

Frank

xxx