Mark's Story

"Hi, my name is Adele & and I have been married to Mark for 19 years. After 13 years, Piper came along very unexpectedly. Everyone said she was a blessing sent as Marks dad found out he was going to be a grandad for the 1st time, but sadly never got to meet her due to him passing away with cancer.

Our journey started Jan 22. We happened to be watching a hospital programme, and Mark said, "I've got some of those symptoms, i better make an appt with the Drs," which was news to me.
Appt made with GP, which led to having an appt for an endoscopy within weeks. We then got covid, so the appt was delayed. The endoscopy came around and showed a cancerous tumour on his oesophagus. We were then informed by the specialist nurse that it was really early days, and we felt like we had won the lottery.
11 days later, Mark was informed over the phone by the same specialist nurse whilst he was at work that it was actually Stage 4 oesophageal cancer. PET Scan showed that he also had mets to his liver. We then met with the Dr who gave us the correct diagnosis 6-9 months with a possible 3 additional months with chemo. Mark decided to take the chemo as he felt he had nothing to loose. It's been 13 months of a roller coaster. Marks now very frail, struggling to eat & just spent 5 days in Southmead. We take every day as a blessing. My biggest fear was how we were going to break this down to a 5 year old. With the support of our primary school, St Peters Hospice and charities like the Ben Saunders Foundation, which have been amazing & could never repay any of these guys enough. This break couldn't have come at a better time. Memories made that will last forever.
Thank you so very much from the bottom of hearts.

I'd also like to take this opportunity that if you have a continuous cough, heartburn please, please try and get an endoscopy. Mark went to the Drs 2 years previously with the symptoms and they prescribed Omprazole as a solution xxx"