We are holding a coffee and cake morning in honour of our late son Mark who died in 2017 from malignant melanoma. The original cancer on his scalp developed from a birthmark when he was just fifteen years of age. This was removed and he got on with his life, finishing school, enjoying lots of activities and then training to be a doctor. In his second year after qualifying Mark was doing a job he loved at St Helier Hospital in Surrey when the cancer came back with a vengeance. It had spread to his liver, his spleen and his right lung, causing tremendous pain and threatening his life. He was admitted to Kingston Hospital, then transferred to The Royal Marsden Hospital, one of the best cancer treatment centres in the world.
Though the doctors said it was terminal there were treatments Mark could have, first a targeted therapy which got him well enough to go back to work, and then immunotherpay and radiotherapy.
Thanks to these treatments and the wonderful team at The Royal Marsden, Mark lived for 23 more months, became an ambassador for Cancer Research UK and enjoyed his life. Mark launched his Just Giving appeal from his hospital bed soon after that devastating terminal diagnosis and by the time he died he had raised well over £100,000 and gathered a following as people read his story on his blog. We have kept this fund going according to Mark’s wishes and it now stands at £333, 525.
Do come and join us if you can. There will be cakes to buy and tea, coffee or soft drinks and all proceeds will go the the fund. Mark’s memoir, PS I have Cancer will also be for sale and my poetry collection Splitting Sunlight in aid of the fund.