A deadly lump has wreaked havoc on their lives of a young couple for more than five years, with the pair only happening to catch it during a safety check.
Lauren Smith and her husband Stuart, from the UK, were on vacation and preparing to plunge down a zipline when the 30-year-old spotted something unusual on Stuart's neck.
Lauren said she came across 'a lump' but brushed it off as 'harmless at the time.'
"We agreed he’d get it checked out when we got home," she added.
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Stuart lived an active lifestyle, travelling internationally while working as an accountant and was deemed healthy.
Now 40, however, and his family never dreamed they'd be making an urgent appeal to save his life.
Weeks after their vacation to Cornwall in August 2019, Stu was diagnosed with stage three melanoma, a type of skin cancer.
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In his case, it had an 'unknown primary,' meaning it had no clear origin, a rare diagnosis that happens in just a handful of melanoma patients.
Doctors then removed 28 lymph nodes and part of Stu's neck muscle in a major surgery after it was feared the cancer was spreading.
Medications and drug therapy using Dabrafenib and Trametinib then kept the cancer at bay for a while, giving the couple hope of the all clear.
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Stu even went back to work and the couple adopted a dog, Nala.
However, their newfound peace was sadly short lived as in March 2023, a routine PET scan revealed the cancer was back with a vengeance, this time spreading to his liver and thigh and bumping his grade to stage four.
He was given powerful medication to help his immune system battle the cancer cells, but that failed just two cycles in and Stu was raced to hospital.
Medics found his liver was failing and diagnosed him with grade three immune-related hepatitis.
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Lauren said: "Every time we got our hopes up, we were knocked down again."
"But Stu never gave up. He always faced it with strength."
Then in August 2023, the couple became engaged on their 10-year anniversary and brought their wedding plans forward to December 30 last year.
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"It was one of the happiest days of our lives and one of the hardest," Lauren added. "We didn’t know what lay ahead, but we knew we didn’t want to wait."
Although targeted therapy gave them some promising results like tumor shrinkage, sadly Stu's cancer built resistance to the therapy and spread again, this time to his lungs, lymph nodes and his brain.
He started chemotherapy three days a week, during which he suffered hair loss, fatigue and confusion, which all came to a head in March this year when Lauren came home from work and found her husband unable to communicate.
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Once raced to hospital, another scan revealed he had a large tumor and a bleed on the brain which, although was mitigated with steroids, saw Stu suffer with aphasia, a condition which impacts his ability to speak.
When he eventually could speak again, his first words: "Ready to fight."
The NHS successfully removed his brain tumor and a blood clot in a craniotomy which helped his speech to return.
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However, the cancer has continued to grow, and the pair have ran out of options in the UK to give Stu a fighting chance.
Lauren says the very 'last option' they have is in Israel - where a cutting-edge procedure and FDA-approved treatment called TIL therapy (Tumour-Infiltrating Lymphocyte therapy) is, but doesn't come cheap at around £165,000 ($222,993).
The treatment involves removing tumor tissue, isolating immune cells to grow more in a lab and then reintroducing them in hopes they will combat the cancer.
"It’s not just about extending life, it’s about giving him a real chance," Lauren added.
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Donations can be made to their GoFundMe here.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the American Cancer Society on 1-800-227-2345 or via their live chat feature, available 24/7 every day of the year.
Liv Bridge