A CARING wife whose husband is fighting inoperable cancer has been "blown away" after £35,000 was raised for his treatment – all within less than two days.
James Barrow, 40, who is better known as Jim, was diagnosed with Stage 4 bowel cancer back in May 2022.
Since then he has encountered many hardships and difficulties, from gruelling treatments to having to take seemingly endless medications.
After the cancer spread to his liver, a major bowel obstruction caused by the tumour was discovered, leading to surgery which left him with a stoma.
Since then he has endured chemotherapy, radiotherapy, Covid-19, and extreme pain caused by the tumour pushing on the nerves in his back and rectum.
Most recently, James spent several weeks in St Helena Hospice but has now returned home to his wife Nicky, 33, and their two children Archie, 8, and Izzy, 4.
Following his homecoming, Nicky launched a fundraising page with the hope of funding a private drug called Bevacizumab.
Also known as Avastin, the drug is not available on the NHS but could prove vital in helping ease James' pain and improving his quality of life.
Depending on which hospital James visits, a course of Avastin could set him back £1,000 for each treatment every two weeks.
Remarkably, however, the couple has been offered a glimmer of hope after the campaign raised more than £35,000, despite only being launched on Monday.
She said: “It’s been a whirlwind, a living nightmare to be honest, this is the positivity we have needed to feel like we aren’t alone, and everyone is there supporting us.
"The hope is the drug will stabilise his cancer, it’s to make sure the cancer does not get any worse.
“For me, it’s more for his quality of life and to improve his symptoms and hopefully allowing him to do more things he wants to do.”
“It is overwhelming, we are good, we at least now know we have that support to hopefully move forward with his treatment and have a better quality of life.
“To know we have got at least a year’s worth of treatment that we don’t have to worry about now, is incredible.
So far an impressive 510 people have already donated to the fundraiser, including an anonymous donor who contributed a whopping £8,000.
Nicky said: "I don’t think words can express how thankful we are, it doesn’t come easy for us to ask for help, we weren’t sure if we should do this.
“It’s a difficult thing to do and we are literally blown away by the response, from the bottom of our hearts we are so thankful.
“The fact it is still going is amazing, it’s been a nightmare but with this it has gone from negativity to feelings of hope and positivity.”
To donate visit: tinyurl.com/9c7am75p
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