A man has been renovating a historic Welsh church with his wife while fighting cancer for the last two years. James Merritt now fears he may lose his family's dream home after being told his best option for treatment may be privately-funded care.
The 50-year-old, who lost his 20-year-old daughter, Jess, to cancer in 2018, had thrown all their energy into the project in the hope it would be a new start for them. He and wife Clair are originally from Birmingham but moved to the Bridgend area after losing Jess to Chronic Myeloid Leukemia in 2018. Life had been difficult for Jess for a long time as she had been diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis when she was just eight months old.
Needing a change in their lives, the couple and their other two grown up children, Abigail and Thomas, became determined to travel to Australia in 2020. They were so keen for some new beginnings that they were even prepared to sell their original house in Birmingham and take the trip around Australia in a rented campervan.
Read next: Mum who was told cervical cancer signs were due to Covid jab has months to live
But as Covid-19 hit just as they were trying to get away from it all, their plans became impossible. Keen to help them out, their friend who has a house in Abergavenny offered them the chance to stay there in October, 2020, and so they were able to settle in Wales for six months.
While they were there, James’ wife, Clair came across an unusual auction listing. Nestled away in Blaengarw was an old church building- the Hall on Katie Street that was practically a blank slate. With what looked like sky high ceilings, and heaps of room for the family to enjoy, they became set on making it theirs to continue enjoying their new life in Wales.
Despite being beaten by a higher bidder, the couple later found that the church had gone up for sale, and they managed to buy it for £90,000. But in a tragic turn of events, not long after they purchased the property, they found out that James was suffering from bladder cancer in February 2022.
The property now remains half renovated, with the downstairs area well on its way to being completed. And James has also installed some temporary partitions in the building to create bedroom spaces.
James was hoping to hold onto their home so him and his wife could continue bringing their dreams to life. As the cancer has now spread, and there is now a chance that it might not be cured, James wants to try and get hold of different treatment to immunotherapy, which is what the NHS is offering, which could mean having to sell their home to get hold of some cash.
He has his sights set on paying for treatment like Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) which has been found to kill cancer cells, James has not given up hope yet. And in a last-ditch effort, his wife Clair has now set up a JustGiving page which has the goal of getting £80,000 together.
Clair said on the fundraiser: "We will do all we can to prolong his life so our children do not have to lose another person they love."
Having currently raised £1,997 and counting, James said: "My daughter is 21 in August and my son was 23 in April. It's such a difficult time to be told you are this ill because I want to be there for them.
"I'm trying to get as much time as I possibly can. My daughter is off to Australia on a year placement with Harper Adams Uni in Sydney in September 2023 and I want to survive so I can see her off when she goes to Australia but also see her come back."
His wife, Claire, has battled with her mental health before and has also been struggling with the news that James is so ill. James explained: "She doesn't want to see me suffer so that's also a daily struggle for us."
Hoping that finishing off the old church will give them something positive to focus on, James added: "It's very liveable but very much half done. Because of the cancer I can't be around dust so will have to give up DIY which will be a huge change.
"It's been such a good distraction, I've worked on rooms before having treatment before which is great because it keeps your mind off things. But there's been a lot of things we couldn't do.
"I had to turn down the chance to go on George Clarke's Remarkable Renovations as I was struggling with the cancer at the time. But hopefully now will be the time that we can finally get on with things and get it all sorted if we can hold onto it.
"There's also a big difference with the building now compared to what it used to be like, as we actually had heating this Christmas. We stayed in Abergavenny after buying it so we went back and forth as work was taking place.
"I remember the first Christmas there and we had no heating, and it was like four degrees but we didn't mind because that's what we signed up for."
To donate to the fundraising page raising money for James' treatment, you can visit the JustGiving page here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/clair-merritt-5?utm_term=rbQ8KgzDJ
Read next:
The reality of being a man living with incontinence and the warning signs you shouldn't ignore
Welsh hospital recruits more than 100 nurses from India to staff wards
'It took me nine months to get the life-changing treatment I needed after early menopause'
'Muscular dystrophy robbed me of my passions but finding a new one saved me'
