Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.

We have decided as a workforce to try and raise as much money as possible through a variety of charity events and fundraisers throughout 2016.  We asked Tim what our target should be and the figure £10,000 came out of his mouth......thats the target then!! 

We will keep you posted with our fundraising events on our facebook page and twitter in the next few months:) In the meantime if you just want to donate than you are more than welcome to! 

Below is a small update on how Tim is and where he is at with his treatment from his wife Adele. 

So many people ask me every day how Tim is and 'so is he
better now then?!'....this is very kind but can be very draining also.
Sometimes it's very difficult to explain without me going into so much detail
or being an emotional wreck. The honest answer is at the moment it changes week
by week day by day. Some days he has not got the energy to get out of bed and
feels very ill but some days he is just like old Tim. So here goes I will try
and explain the last 6 months of what Tim has been through and the dreaded ‘C’ word and how it has turned our world
upside down. I can only describe it as being on an emotional roller coaster
with good days and bad days.

So in August Tim had major surgery to his head and neck to
remove the cancer that had spread from his eye (malignant melanoma). His cancer
was first diagnosed in 2013(a few months before opening The Spiced Pear) a rare
form of melanoma (skin cancer) in his left eye and over the period of two years
they removed one very large tumour and another two smaller ones. He had two
courses of radiotherapy to his eye and chemotherapy. All while working 24 7 on
a new businesses he put his heart and soul into. He thought that working all
hours to build his dream was the answer and never took the time to rest. So
back too August they removed all the lymph nodes in his neck and a large part
of his salivary gland (where the cancer was found) on the left side of his face.
He was in theatre for over 8 hours and another 4 in recovery. I will never ever
forget that day and how I paced those hospital corridors for hours. I have
never ever felt so scared and alone before. When they finally let me see him in
recovery at 9pm I have never cried as much in my life with relief that he was alive.

The surgery has left Tim with half the salvia he should have,
damage to his tongue so he struggles to chew anything on the left side of his mouth.
This resulting in changes to his speech which can sometimes be a bit slurred
(that's without him having a glass of red wine!). Nothing is simple with Tim
and after surgery he was admitted back into hospital twice following more complications!

Given only four weeks to get over the surgery he then
started radiotherapy to his head and neck. I think radiotherapy is massively
underestimated in how ill it can make you feel.  Six weeks of travelling to Sheffield every day
for his treatment which I can only now look back on as a bit of a blur. Oh and
two speeding tickets later!!! Some days Tim would feel so ill he couldn't drive
himself or be able to even communicate with me. The damage the treatment has
caused to Tim's mouth has been awful and for Tim to lose his taste buds have to
be one of the worst things to happen to him. Going from food being his world
and his job to everything tasting like cardboard is just so so cruel. The
operation has also caused damage to his left eye and his pupil now does not dilate
and his vision is shocking too. His nerves in his left shoulder were also
damaged and he struggles to be able to lift that arm up above his head.

Week 3 into his treatment Tim was so poorly I remember the
day he said to me 'that's it Adele I’m done I can't do this anymore!'...after a
lot swearing and crying Tim was given everything medication wise by his
consultant (to make the pain and how he was feeling more bearable) and was told
'he couldn't give up now!’So he didn't and he says now if he knew what the
treatment would have done too him he would have never have gone through it. But
he is here and fingers crossed his quality of life will get better and he will
get stronger too.

Once the treatment finished in November things just seem to
get worse not better for Tim. I think we both just thought we would see him
improve every week and things would slowly get back to normal. So the damaged
caused by the radiotherapy left him with such a sore mouth that eating and
drinking became such an effort. He also got so poorly that he couldn't get out
of bed so wasn't eating or drinking, this went on for weeks and I was slowly
seeing Tim disappear from me. He has lost over 4 and a half stone (it's a good
job he had the weight to lose!).

Lack of food and liquid resulted in Tim being admitted into
hospital three times before Christmas with dehydration and being put onto a drip.
This was an awful time for not only Tim but our two boys Henry and Charlie to
see their Dad so ill. Once Tim was home he needed to rest but also try and make
sure he started to eat. So a dear friend of mine and also a nurse ordered him a
variety of frozen soft meals (a bit like baby food) to be delivered to our home.
He says now that these meals saved his life. But again another difficult thing
for a chef to have to do. So then he slowly built himself up to eating more
solid food and got to enjoy his Christmas Dinner even if he couldn't really
taste it.

 So where are we
now??..as I said at the start, good days and bad days. Tim is still having
further tests and scans at Weston Park hospital so his journey is not over yet
I’m afraid. Weston Park Cancer hospital has become a second home for us both
and we thank the staff for all their wonderful care and support.

So if the last six months has taught us anything is that
life is short, embrace every moment and cherish your family and good friends. I
would like to thank all of our friends and customers at The Spiced Pear for the
constant well wishes and support. I am so proud of everything Tim has achieved
in his career and the success of The Spiced Pear. Fingers crossed it won't be
long before he is back at the helm of his business again!

I would just like to say a huge thank you to my core members
of staff at The Spiced Pear that have not only carried on providing excellent
food and service to all our customers but have provided huge support to me
personally. On what have been some truly dark days my friends and family have
given us both the support and love which has made this whole journey a bit more
bearable. One person in particular whose love and constant support has been
amazing on so many different levels has been my little brother Joe. Words cannot
express how much I value you what you have done for us and I love you dearly.

I could probably write a book about the daily experiences over
the last six months but I will leave it there for now and fingers crossed to a
brighter 2016 for Tim.