A dad has been diagnosed with a rare type of cancer two months after welcoming his son into the world.
Jack Woolridge, from Blyth, Northumberland, discovered he had spindle cell rhabdomayoscaroma after finding a lump in his left leg. The aggressive disease had spread to other parts of the 28-year-old's body including his lungs.
He was given the shock diagnosis in March this year - just 11 months after marrying his wife Alex, 31, and two months after their son Reuben was born.
Alex said: "It was really difficult. At the time we had a two-month-old baby and we were left unsure about what the future held. The world had just stopped, it was horrendous.
"We hadn't even been married a year when we got the diagnosis. The first round of chemotherapy was the day before our anniversary.
"He was just devastated. He tried to digest it and process the news. He was broken, he took it really hard. Now he's in the mindset of 'I'm not going to let this take over our lives'. He's going to fight every single step of the way.
"He's got a really rare type of cancer and the type of cell is really rare. According to the oncologist, it's like one in a million. There's only been two journals about it in the entire world.
"We haven't discussed prognosis, it's something that we don't want to know. We don't want them to put a time stamp on it. We need to see how the chemo goes first. We want to beat it, we want to beat the odds."
Jack first noticed the lump next to his knee in November last year. At the time, he was an under 9 team coach for Blyth Spartans and put it down to being a football injury.
However a few months later, following the birth of his son, his leg increased in size and became painful. He visited his GP and underwent a number of tests at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.
Alex, who works as a business improvement practioner, said: "It was late last year when he noticed a lump in his leg. He thought nothing really of it. He played football for Blyth Spartans, he was one of the coaches, and he thought it could have been a football injury.
"He didn't have any other symptoms and he was eating well. Nothing was screaming out that anything was wrong.
"When Reuben was a few weeks old, Jack's leg ballooned. He couldn't get into bed without lifting his leg into bed. He had limited movement in his knee and hip."
Following an ultrasound, an MRI scan, a biopsy and CT scan Jack was given the devastating news that he had a rare form of sarcoma cancer. Medics said it had spread to his lymph nodes in his hip and leg, his kidney and his lungs.
Jack, who works as a personal injury handler, is currently undergoing chemotherapy through the NHS.
Alex has set up a Just Giving page to raise funds for him to have more tests carried out privately, which she says Jack's oncologist is in support of.
More than £20,000 has already been raised by people in the local community to help Jack to get private treatment, which is not available on the NHS.
Alex said: "There's a lot more out there that you can look at to help support Jack. He can get different trials of treatment but unfortunately the NHS can't provide it.
"The community has come together to help us. It's hugely overwhelming. The generosity and kindness is amazing. I think we can forget how kind people can be.
"We're getting a private blood test which essentially tests the cancer against other supplements, drugs and methods of killing the cancer. We'll share that with the oncologist."
Alex and her family have also made changes at home in an attempt to protect Jack. She said: "We thought that we lived a fairly healthy lifestyle. The diagnosis made us reflect on the life we were living and make changes.
"We've gone vegan - we have cut out meat and we have cut out sugar and everything we get is organic. We have also changed cleaning products and clothing - he's wearing more breathable fabric."
Alex has urged others to look after themselves and visit their GP straight away to get checked out if they have any concerns.
She added: "What this has shown us is the importance of looking after yourself and listening to your body. Your body whispers before it shouts. Unfortunately, we heard Jack's body when it was shouting."
