A father from Birmingham needs his family to raise £21,000 in just three weeks for a cancer vaccine that will prolong his life.
Andrew Flynn, 52, from Northfield on the southern outskirts of England’s ‘second city’, was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in 2021. And despite enduring ‘terrible’ rounds of chemotherapy and life-saving surgery to get the all clear, the cancer has come back, reports BirminghamLive.
In September, Andrew was given the devastating news that the cancer had returned and spread to his lungs, lymph nodes and chest wall. There is a glimmer of hope, though, with a German clinic – where Andrew is currently receiving treatment – saying they can create a unique cancer vaccine which will boost his survival chances, but his family need to raise the funds in order for them to go ahead and create it.
He leaves Germany on December 23 and doctors at the clinic say they would need to receive the £21,000 before then. Another snag is that the vaccine takes two weeks to make.
Andrew’s niece Hayley Davey, a third-year nursing student, admitted the family are “praying for a miracle”. She said: “We are desperate and scared that we won’t be able to fund this type of money in three weeks’ time. We all pray every day for a miracle.
“The doctor in Germany has even passed Andy’s GoFundMe page over to people he knows to see if we can raise the funds.”
Andrew is in Germany with his wife Gail to receive the first part of his treatment and will return home in time for Christmas. The family are desperately hoping it will be with the vaccine.
Hayley went on: “With the cancer vaccine, it is one that can only be used on him, the cells in the vaccine are from his cancer and his blood, it has to be made basically from his own cancer. The treatment that he’s having now, part one, will push him up to 60 per cent of remission and then with the vaccine, it goes up to 75 per cent remission.”
Andrew’s niece explained just what her uncle means to her and her family. She added: “He’s the man that keeps this family together, this family wouldn’t function without him, he is literally the heart of the family.
“So the fact that he could come around means a lot, to give him a chance at life because he deserved it more than anyone. He’s never hurt anyone in his life, he hasn’t got a bad bone in him.”
The German clinic treating Andrew specialises in upper GI tract cancers, revealed Hayley, and could give the family longer with Andrew. She said: “Even if we get an extra year or two with him, that’s what means the most, we’re just not ready to lose him – it has given everyone hope.”
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