A dad-to-be has been diagnosed with incurable cancer just three months after his wife fell pregnant with their first child.
James Turner, 40, who has been told he has less than a year to live. is now desperately trying to raise enough money to fly to a specialist clinic in Mexico where he hopes a natural treatment may save his life.
He was diagnosed with stage-four pancreatic cancer last month after suffering with mild stomach pains for the previous two months.
But his world came crashing down when doctors told him that those mild pains were an aggressive form of cancer, and the only treatment available was palliative chemotherapy.
He was told he may only live between five months and a year, and is now trying to raise money to get to Mexico to follow a natural treatment path.
An online appeal has so far raised around £8,500, but James and his wife Greidy say they need to raise a total of £30,000 to pay for the treatment he needs.
James, of Bromley, south east London, said: “I had everything that I had ever wanted.
“I had finally met the love of my life and we married two years ago, when I was 38.
“We had lived with my parents for two years while saving desperately to buy our first home.
“The in February this year, the icing on the cake – our first child was on the way. We were so happy.
“But on May 5, a bombshell his us. The discomfort that I had been experiencing in my lower ribs turned out to be life-threatening.”
His identical twin brother, Pete, who lives in West Sussex, said the last few months have been an emotional rollercoaster for James, with the lows of a terminal diagnosis and the highs of his wife becoming pregnant.
Pete said: “At the moment he’s relatively fit and healthy to look at, but the condition of his health can change at any moment.
“It’s the most aggressive cancer there is. We’re praying we have, in some ways, caught it in time.”
Pete described his brother as “one of the nicest guys”, as someone who “would do anything for anyone”.
He said: “He’s such a nice guy to have had this terrible news come along after finally falling in love, getting married, moving into their new home and with a baby on the way.
“We can’t take in the fact that we may lose him and he won’t be there for his child and a life that would be so deserved – it’s just devastating.”
If he makes it to Mexico, James will spend a minimum of five weeks at the clinic on a strict organic diet, undergoing a series of intensive treatments to try and cleanse the toxins from his body.
After that, he will need to remain on a tightly-controlled diet of detoxing and intensive nutrition.
The family have said that if the fundraiser does hit its £30,000 target, any money that is left over will be used to set a charitable fund to support others in his position.
