My Story

In December 2024, our lives were turned upside down.
We woke up one morning to the news that we were expecting our third child. Little did we know what was about to unfold…

My wife - Stacey took a pregnancy test that came back positive. We felt joy, happiness, anxiety - all the emotions you can imagine when two kids already felt like enough! We went to our local hospital for an ultrasound, but no baby could be found. Even more worrying, her hCG levels were alarmingly high.

A few days later, with no clear answers, doctors scheduled Stacey for surgery to remove what they suspected was an ectopic pregnancy. Just minutes before she went into theatre, a specialist consultant - Dr. Sarwar at Charing Cross Hospital in London was contacted. He advised a CT scan first. That evening, we were taken into a room and told the news no one is ever prepared to hear.

Stacey had cancer.

A mass had been found on her ovaries, and blood clots had already spread to her lungs. We were told to get to London immediately - chemotherapy needed to begin straight away.

We went home, told our parents, and the next day we were in London.

Stacey was diagnosed with Gestational Trophoblastic Disease (GTD) - a rare, pregnancy-related cancer likely triggered by a previous pregnancy. Her hCG levels were 211,000 (for context, anything under 5 is normal). She spent six nights at Charing Cross undergoing tests and started aggressive (EMACO) chemotherapy treatment. The cancer had spread to her lungs meaning she would be treated for a rare cancer type called Choriocarcinoma. A choriocarcinoma is a cancer that happens when cells in the placenta that were part of a molar pregnancy or any other type of pregnancy (full term, miscarriage or ectopic) become cancerous. Choriocarcinoma only happens in about one in every 50,000 pregnancies.

She began weekly chemotherapy. One week at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, the next at Charing Cross in London.

This continued for nearly five months.

Two weeks after her first treatment, Stacey lost her hair. The chemo knocked her for six. The feeling of being helpless with someone you love is very hard to explain. Three months earlier was one of the happiest days of our lives when we got married then months later Stacey was so ill she couldn’t move or eat. I will always be in awe of the strength she found to fight through it.

Finally, after three agonising months, her hCG levels dropped to 4. She had six more weeks of treatment to make sure, and in May, tests confirmed it: the cancer had gone.

We returned to Charing Cross in December for a follow-up CT scan, so far, her hCG remains below 5. We’re hopeful it stays that way.

The INCREDIBLE doctors and nurses at Charing Cross saved Stacey’s life. I can never thank them enough for keeping our family together.

I’ve now been offered a charity place to run the London Marathon 2026, representing CTRT (Cancer Treatment and Research Trust) to raise money specifically for GTD - supporting the very research that saved Stacey’s life.

I’m running to raise awareness of this devastating disease and to give something back, in the hope that more people can be helped, just like Stacey was.

Any support or donations would mean the world to us.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.