Dad, 30, faces race against time to fund “life-saving” cancer treatment not available on the NHS
Care worker Nathan Lewis was diagnosed with sarcoma - cancer of the soft tissue - and secondary lung cancer
A DAD is facing a race against time to raise enough money to fund potentially life-saving cancer treatment, not available on the NHS.
Nathan Lewis, 30 and his son Thiago have both been struck with incurable neurofibromatosis type 1, which causes non-cancerous tumours to grow along nerves.
And while, Nathan is facing the same condition as his son, he is also battling cancer.
The support worker was told he's battling sarcoma - cancer of the soft tissues - in August.
He and his family are , that is not available on the NHS for Nathan's form of cancer.
His fiance Tiffany Ferdinand - who is mum to Thiago - said: “Unfortunately a recent CT scan showed that although radiotherapy has changed the shape and size of Nathan’s tumour it also showed secondary cancer in his lungs.
“This means that Nathan cannot have the proton beam therapy as that just works for primary tumours.
“This is devastating but I didn’t give up hope and made contact with the Hallwang Clinic in Germany.
“Doctors there have treated his type of cancer before and have had great success, which was wonderful to hear.
RELATED STORIES
“The treatment they are going to offer is dentritic stem cell therapy combined with intravenous vitamins, detoxification and stress busting techniques.”
But the family, from Deighton, West Yorks. needs to raise up to £50,000 to fund it – with £25,000 needed to book the treatment quickly.
They hope to book Nathan in for his first treatment on February 6.
His treatment can begin before the full £50,000 is raised, but the family will have to find the remaining money quickly in order to continue the treatment.
Tiffany, also mum to the couple’s daughter Sienna, added: “They have available slots in February and as Nathan’s cancer is becoming more aggressive time is of the essence.”
In 2011 doctors partially removed a benign neurofibroma tumour from Nathan’s neck.
But, since his operation the tumour has slowly grown back.
Nathan chose to have radiotherapy to control the pain and it has shrunk the tumour.
Doctors say the condition is not curable and have ruled out further surgery in the UK because they don’t think it will shrink enough.
There is promising news for the family, in that doctors have found a new drug to treat little Thiago’s tumours.
It’s called MEK Inhibitors and is still being trialled.
The youngster's family said they hope in the next two to four years the treatment will be available on the NHS.
Tiffany explained: “Although currently still on clinical trial it is proven in 80 per cent of patients that it shrinks these painful, fast-growing benign tumours.
“So we are pleased there is treatment in the future for Thiago even if he has to wait two to four years for this.”
-We have updated this story to make clear that Thiago is suffering from a non-cancerous condition, and apologise to the family for any distress caused.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368