A family is desperately trying to find expert help after both children, parents and grandparents were all struck down with life-threatening illnesses.
Stacy Watkins and Dan Price have endured heartbreaking stress throughout the last two decades, after watching their children Hayden, 18 and Tia, 15, fight a crippling heart condition.
But after being a rock to their family throughout those tough years, it is now Stacy, 38, and Dan, 41, who are in hospital after the stay-at-home mum was diagnosed with terminal cervical cancer and the dad discovered a tumour on his spine.
The couple, from Reading, Berkshire, have both also been supporting their own parents through their cancer diagnoses as Dan’s mum battles stage 4 lung cancer and Stacy’s dad was told he is terminally ill with the same disease.
Dan told The Mirror : “It’s literally been a whirlwind of a life, it’s coming at us from every single angle.
“One of these things to happen in a lifetime is bad enough but all of the things happening at the same time, it’s like living in your own horror movie.
“We’ve had to sit the kids down and tell them that their grandad has cancer and it’s not looking good.
“My mum is fighting stage 4 lung cancer. She’s already had one lung removed but it’s returned so we’ve had to tell them their nan has cancer.
“Then we’ve had to sit them down and tell them that their mum has cancer and say we are looking at months with treatment.
“And then we’ve had to turn around and tell them it's not just neck and back pain I have, I also have a tumour at the top of my spine and will need an operation.”
The couple’s children were both born with a congenital complete heart block, which is a disruption of the intricate electrical nerve impulse system that regulates the pumping of the heart.
The condition has seen Hayden go through four pacemakers since he was born and for Tia, the family spent a year and a half in hospital as she fought to stay alive before having a full heart transplant at just four years old.
But in October last year the family’s world was turned upside down again when Stacy was diagnosed with a rare and incurable form of cervical cancer, which has already spread to her liver and pelvis.
The mum of two who is medically retired as a result of her lupus, had undergone blood work ahead of her monthly routine treatment for the condition, when the doctor warned she needed to go to A&E right away.
Stacy said: “I have to go for a monthly infusion for an IV drip for my lupus. I went to get my bloods done as I always do before my treatment.
“The doctor rang me back at 5am and told me to go to A&E straight away.
“I knew something was wrong because my lupus consultant got a chair and came and sat down next to me.
“I thought that was a bit strange because I have been for lupus treatment so many times before.
“They explained that they had found this mass and it was cancer. I asked her ‘how long have I got and is it curable?’
“She told me without treatment I would have weeks to months and with treatment it would be more months, but not years.
“I was completely numb, it was awful. Everyone was talking in the room but I couldn’t hear anything.”
Now Stacy is undergoing chemotherapy for the neuroendocrine tumour on her cervix, which is a rare form of cancerous tumour which affects the cells that release hormones into the body.
But doctors have warned her that even with chemo, she is unlikely to survive more than 12 months.
In the wake of that devastating blow, the family were stunned when it was revealed that Dan, who had been suffering from neck and back pain also had a tumour pressing on his spine.
Due to Covid delays, Dan is still waiting to find out whether the tumour is benign or cancerous and is in still in need of an operation to remove it.
But due to the nature of its precarious location by the spine and brainstem, the procedure could leave him paralysed, blind or bring on a stroke.
Dan said: “It’s millimetres from my spinal cord and brainstem.
“They want to take it all out but if it has grown around the spinal cord and all the nerves then it is even more risky.”
Determined for some good news and hope, the family are now trying to raise £90,000 to pay for experimental and pioneering treatment to prolong Stacy’s life or cure the cancer.
With the help of their friends and family, they are searching the globe for medical experts that can save her but have quickly realised the consultations are costly and will incur large travel expenses that they can’t afford to cover.
Stacy said: I can’t put it into words what it would mean, or put a price on finding a cure.
“I don't want to leave my kids or Daniel. I love being a mum, I think it’s the best gift you can ever have.
“To be told I have more time and I don't have to leave them would be amazing.”
Daniel added: “To come through what we have with our children and then to have this thrown at us we’re a strong family and will get through it one way or another, we are determined.”
