A teacher from Liverpool is facing a difficult and costly cancer battle
Matty Read, 26, from Everton moved to Luoyang, China, with his girlfriend Lucy Edge for work in August 2021, but the couple soon found themselves under strict lockdown due to a rise in Covid-19 numbers.
He was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma - cancer of the lymph nodes - in September, and is now in dire financial straits as his medical insurance does not cover the cost of treatment for the disease.
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His mum Nicola, 53, said: "It has been horrendous. It's been very stressful for the family, not being able to hold him, reassure him and say to him 'you'll be OK'. You can FaceTime, but it's not the same as having him home."
A fund-raiser has been set up to pay for his chemotherapy while he remains in China.
Nicola said: "Matty and his girlfriend were going out there to teach English to Chinese children, so before they could go they had to have full medicals, and everything was fine. They originally went because they wanted to be able to come back with a chunk of savings to put a deposit down on a house.
"They decided to stay on another six month contract, and had another medical in August 2022 to cover them for the next six months, and everything was fine, strangely enough. But then early September Matty woke up with a pain in his neck and there was a lump.
"His manager took him to the doctors, they did a scan and they found a couple of swollen lymph nodes. They did a biopsy and three days later, that's when they got the results. As you can imagine, him calling me from China and having to tell me that was just horrendous."
Along with mounting medical costs, the former Liverpool John Moores University student faces an uphill battle even attending his chemotherapy sessions, as his apartment building has been put on strict lockdown.
Nicola said: "He's halfway through his treatment, and he's having to pay for it because with everything being fine on his medicals, the insurance doesn't cover it. I said if that's the cost, so be it. We would go to any length.
"He's been told that his prognosis is good."
She added: "Matty has not been lucky. He had a blood clot when he was 21 and was in hospital for his 21st birthday, and he had to have a rib removed. He's not had it easy, but I love how he remains positive through everything. He's been through a lot, but he's got through a lot."
Matty's friend Rob Schenck, who started his fund-raiser after undergoing cancer treatment himself, said: "We love Matty and don’t want him to be any worse off financially going through what is ultimately life saving treatment.
"I myself was diagnosed with testicular cancer in May of this year, and have been extremely lucky enough to benefit from the free and wonderful care and chemotherapy treatment that the NHS provides, but Matty hasn’t been so lucky."
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