What is stomach cancer?

How does it start?

What is the life expectancy of someone with stomach cancer?

How is stomach cancer treated?

These are just a few of the questions that have filled our lives for the last 2 months.

This is Paul, my 36 year old husband, and he is an incredible man. I have been with him for the past 13 years and we have a wonderful little boy called George who is 17months old. In June 2019; my husband; best friend and George‘s amazing Daddy was diagnosed with a rare form of stomach cancer (advanced diffused gastric cancer) and since that dreadful day my family and I have been living in what feels like a nightmare. On the day we were told about Paul’s condition we’ve cried, become angry, asked “why him?” but most importantly we’ve learnt to be grateful. Grateful for the time we have, grateful for the memories we have made and we have learned to respect that every moment is precious and should not be taken for granted.

If you know me well than you will know I am no elite athlete and would rather spend my nights chilling out in front of the TV, however in 9 weeks time I have challenged myself (along with a team of family and friends) to climb the Yorkshire Three Peaks to raise money towards cancer treatments for Paul so that he has the best chance of beating this awful disease and seeing our little boy grow up. I ask my lovely friends if they could please sponsor us with anything they possibly can. In the event that Paul makes a full recovery on his current NHS funded treatments then any money raised will be donated to charity.

Three months ago I was extremely ignorant to the effects that cancer has on both the individual and their close family and friends, but now I sit at night with a heartache and fear that I would not wish upon anyone. My Paul has created a list of promises that his family and I will help him do everything in his power to achieve. Some of these promises include: raising awareness of gastric cancer; watching George (our little boy) start and leave school; growing old with me; taking George for his first legal pint on his 18th birthday; helping George move into his own house; becoming a grandad. We are looking into as many different treatment options as possible to give Paul the best chance at beating this and any amount no matter how great or small is so very much appreciated.

After hours and hours of research, we were shocked to discover that of the £413 million pounds of money raised by cancer research in the financial year 2017/2018 only £0.9 million pounds was spent researching stomach cancer. This is a mere 0.22% of funds from Cancer Research that goes towards helping find a cure even though stomach cancer is the 17th most common cancer in the UK accounting for approximately 4500 deaths per year (12 per day) and approximately 7000 new cases every year (18 per day.) We were also shocked to learn that there isn’t a charity that we can find in the UK that specifically supports stomach cancer.

Research taken from cancer research website dated 2014-2016.

This is something we hope to change by raising awareness of this devastating disease so that others who are diagnosed may be helped in the future.

Thank you for taking the time to read our story so far. We are overwhelmed by all of your love and support and we are eternally grateful Xx