Charity fun day hopes to help Manea dad beat brain cancer
A village pub is hosting a special family charity day aimed at raising money to enable a father to receive ground-breaking treatment for a brain tumour.
The Rose and Crown on Manea High Street will be opening its doors for the event on Sunday September 25 and is hoping as many people will come along and help boost the fundraising in aid of villager Chris Brooks.
Chris, a father of three daughters who is married to Kirsty, was diagnosed with the brain tumour in June this year - just 10 months after he tied the knot with Kirsty in a dream wedding.
The diagnosis was devastating news for the couple as Chris has a Grade 4 Astrocytoma, which has been deemed 'incurable'. The diagnosis came after an operation and Chris was warned he has between 12 and 18 months to live.
He is currently undergoing treatment on the NHS but family and friends have discovered, after hours of extensive research, a new innovative immunotherapy treatment available at a clinic called Cegat in Germany.
Cegat make a personalised peptide cancer vaccine that has helped many other people with brain tumours. This works by using the DNA from Chris’s tumour to make a personalised vaccine, which is a powerful tool for boosting the immune system’s response to destroy the cancer cells.
But sadly it is not available on the NHS and so the family have launched an urgent fundraising campaign in order to pay for the treatment - they need to raise at least £60,000 - £50,000 plus travel expenses as Chris will need to make regular trips to Germany.
They have already raised in excess of £15,600 through a Gofundme page, which has enabled Chris to start the first part of the process with Cegat and that is analysis of the tumour ahead of the vaccine being designed specifically for him.
Kirsty said: “This is our only option to give Chris a second chance at life. We all want nothing more than Chris to have many more years and to see his beautiful girls grow up."
The charity fun day, which starts at 12pm, will include a bouncy castle, birds of prey, face painting, a man versus food competition, lip sync challenge, karaoke, live music and a barbecue. It is free to go along.
