Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Hi everyone.

My name is Barry, and I was recently diagnosed with stage 3 Melanoma cancer.

My diagnosis was obviously a massive, massive shock to me and my family. You just think something like this never happens to you!! But it can.

It all started for me on the 19th of September 2022. I was sat at home when I felt quite a large lump under my armpit. Being men you think its nothing serious and it will be nothing and go away in time, so you carry on. But once I told my wife she made me go to the doctors to have it checked out.

So over the next few weeks there followed various hospital appointments, scans, and biopsies to find out what lump could be.

By the end of October it was confirmed that I had cancer.

On the 23rd November I was admitted to the RVI, Newcastle. Surgery was carried out to remove the tumour and the lymphatic system under my right arm. The surgery went really well, and I received excellent care from the surgeons and the nurses for the week I stayed with them. A huge thank you to them!

The next stage for me was then to recuperate from the surgery and start 1 year of immunotherapy therapy with treatment once a month. I’m currently three treatments in and unfortunately have had to have a break as I was struggling to much with some side effects. Fingers crossed we can get going again soon.

While physical recovery has gone well, I have found the dealing with the mental challenge of having cancer a lot tougher. There seems to be so many questions without definite answers and so many what ifs.

I tried to avoid reading too much on Google through all this, but one day I ended up there. And came across Melanoma UK. A charity who provides vital support for melanoma sufferers, families, and friends. They are passionate about raising awareness of melanoma and its prevention. They carry out lots of fundraising events to help with research, purchasing of hospital equipment and providing much needed support to those who need it.

They became a great help to me and my family. There was always somebody available on the phone to talk to, any time, any day. And their website is a great source of information.

And this is what led me to opening this page. I wanted to try and give a little bit back to the people who have helped me and my family so that they in turn can continue to help others in the same situation.

Working in the construction industry inevitably means you spend long hours working outside getting a greater exposure to UV radiation and I feel I can help raise awareness of the effects of this out there on sites I work on throughout Cumbria and the northwest and hopefully get a few donations along the way too.

To help me do this I decided to get a digger painted black (thankyou to Scot JCB & JCB for doing this) and branded with Melanoma UK. It should definitely stand out from the crowd and get people talking! If you see it working anywhere near you, please visit my just giving page and donate, every bit helps this great charity to continue the invaluable work they do.

Thanks for reading my story.

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