Hello my names Justin, i’m father of 3, Husband, a son, a brother, friend and in May 2024 I was diagnosed with a cancer called Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL).

I have been chosen by Friend of Anchor to take part in this years Brave catwalk event. Where other men in similar situations get to strut their stuff on stage in front of family and friends in unison as a big middle finger up to cancer.

Heres my story.

I was working in Angola in Africa when I had to come home early as my wife Leigh was taking into hospital suspecting our 3rd child was on the way. When i got home i wasnt well but I shrugged it off due to stress and picking up a bug on the plane. We welcomed our baby Daisy into the world on the 3rd of May and when we got her home things were good everyone was happy but I collapsed a couple days later and an ambulance was called. They checked me over everything seemed fine and told me I need to go for a blood test as soon as possible. The next day my wife Leigh became really unwell herself and was taking into hospital where after a few days of the drs doing tests it was discovered Leigh had developed sepsis and wasnt in a good way so she rushed to theatre. We didn’t actually know the severity of this at time but it was touch and go wether Leigh was going to survive.

During this horrific time I booked my blood tests and went to see my gp. She went through a list of symptoms and I had majority of them but we both kind of laughed off what was infact going to be the inevitable.

On 23rd of May it was decided Leigh needed further surgery and 5 minutes after she went into her final surgery I got a phone call from the Dr asking me to come in to discuss blood results. With Leigh being in surgery i couldn’t go and she asked me to sit down and told me I have cancer. A form of Luekemia called. Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL).

Everything came crashing down outside that maternity hospital. All the worries came flooding in. How will i support my family, how will they manage if I dont make it. How will my mum cope so soon after losing my Dad 2 years before. Everything seemed like it was it was closing in.

Leigh came out of surgery and for obvious reasons I couldn’t tell her until she was ready to take the news. It was horrible.

When we finally got Leigh out of hospital the wait started for my cancer journey to begin. The wait for the first appointment seem like a life time although it was only 2 weeks. At first the condition was described as chronic life long condition and was suspected the cancer was dormant and I would be on a watch and wait plan with regular testing but my ct results showed I need treatment right away.

A treatment plan of 2 forms was created and I started my first treatment on 8th august 2024 (4 days after moving home 😂). Things were rough at the start and I was admitted to hospital not long after being released due to infection and a reaction from the first infusion. This is where I started to get to know the friends of anchor support workers. They were great and just coming in the room for a yap in the morning was brilliant and made me feel at ease.

I’m still going through treatment at the moment but things are starting to get easier now. I’ve finished all the infusions and i’m on my daily treatment tablets until summer with outlook looking good for the future. I’m always going to have this condition its with me for the rest of my life but the aim here it to put me in a deep remission for a long time so we just have to crack on and enjoy life.

This event is well out of my comfort zone but with the team that Friends of Anchor have got together for this will be great giving me the kick up the back side I need.

Please sponsor me and donate anything you can for this great charity

Cheers

Justin x