Back in April 2016 our friend and former Edwardian Rugby colleague Lee Willock received the news that following a PET scan, cancerous tumours had been found in between his gullet and small stomach. Quite a rare form of NET cancer was diagnosed and an 18 week course of chemo was prescribed. There were a few ups and downs at the start of the treatment - all to do with white blood cells - but significantly Lee seemed to be responding well. Nueroendocrine cancer (NET) is the umbrella term for a group of unusual, often slow growing cancers, which develop from cells in the diffuse endocrine systems. They are most commonly found in the lung or gastrointestinal system, but they can arise in other parts of the body such as the pancreas, ovary and testes among other sites. NET cancers are on the rise and can affect both men and women at various stages of their life, from 17 - 90 years old.
Lee finished his first course in September 2016 and returned for a scan which initially showed that the cancers had in almost every area reduced by 99%. It was the very best result he and his family could have hoped for and whilst there was still an amount of precautionary radiotherapy to go through (and there was the prospect of it becoming active again) this news was cause for celebration. A follow up scan and consultation in January 2017 unfortunately showed that the cancer had returned and Lee yet again has embarked on an intensive course of Chemo planned to last for 24 weeks.
In May \ June of 2017 we will be embarking on a week of ‘adventure’ raising awareness along the way. We will start by climbing Mount Snowdon on May 31st 2017 and then cycle ‘coast to coast’ through Wales, starting in Colwyn Bay and finishing somewhere near Newport. In September we will also be entering the Velo in Birmingham, a 100 mile marathon equivalent on closed roads around Birmingham. Now this will be no mean feat for some of the ageing (and somewhat ‘heavy’) members of the team, but we feel that the discomfort which we will go through is incomparable to that which our old team mate is coping with and if along the way we can provide benefit to the Charity then we achieve something positive.
https://www.netpatientfoundation.org/
Everyone has stories of family \ friends affected by cancer and we have finalised a number of events to support Lee and his family, raise money for The Charity and (more importantly) awareness for cancer treatments \ charities. With this in mind we have joined together to raise money for the NET Patient Foundation. You'll see our team fundraising target on the right. Your donation can really help us smash this goal.
Remember: Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never share them with anyone or send you unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. They'll make sure Gift Aid (an additional 25%) is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer, too. That means more money goes to the charity, faster, with JustGiving.
