Me and Sean will be running a marathon to raise funds for my good friend Mathew Murray who has been dealt a terrible hand in life.
For those of you that know Matthew, you’ll know that he is one of the nicest men around. He has a heart of gold, will do anything for anyone, there isn’t a bad bone in his body. You’ll also know that he’s been given a truly devastating terminal diagnosis and doesn’t have long left of his very young life.
Matthew only 40 years young, visited the doctor back in May 2022, to have a mole that looked out of the ordinary checked, the doctor insisted that the mole was nothing to be concerned about,
9 weeks later matthew had the mole sent for screening and unfortunately this came back as melanoma. The cancer had also spread to his lymph nodes. On the 12th December 22, later that year he underwent a grueling opperation to remove the root of the mole and also the lymph nodes from his groin and armpit and was given 12 month of chemotherapy tablets to kill any remaining cancer cells.
Matthew was then told that he had a 20ml tumor in his groin that was stage 4 and inoperable, however, after a course of treatment the tumor shrunk from 20ml to 10ml and was now thankfully operable, he then had his 2nd operation to remove the tumor and lymph nodes which unfortunately, resulted in him being left with lymphoedema.
In June 2024 Matthew was given the fantastic news that there were no visible tumor markers, finally things felt like they were looking up for him, however that quickly changed the following month on July 29th 2024 when he got the devastating news that there were now 33 tumors on his brain. He underwent 2 lots of gamma knife treatment in August and 2 lots of immunotherapy treatment in september, however, the treatment had to be stopped due to the negative effect it was having to his liver, causing it to shut down.
The final blow for Matthew was on the 16th October 24 when he was told that the cancer was now terminal and and also returned in his pelvis and abdomen, he has been given a new tablet treatment that may extend his life if his body reacts well to them to give him around 12-18 months to live, but as also been told that if he was to have a bleed on the brain, (that could happen at any time) this would be catastrophic for him.
During all of this, Matthew being the inspiration that he his, has taken it all in his stride, never moaned and comforted everyone else around him, stating “it is what it is” and focusing on enjoying the rest of his life.
Matthew his partner Shelly of 11 year and 2 young children are now living their last memories together and I want to help them to do so, worry free and try to ease the financial strain. I want them to be able to enjoy the rest of Matthew’s life the best way they can doing whatever they would like to do as a family.
Me and Sean will be running a marathon in aid of this and hope that you can contribute, however small, every penny counts.
Lets help to make memories for Matthew!
Thank you
Ian