Dad fighting brain cancer for more time with sons
A firefighter diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor is fundraising for a pioneering treatment in the hope of being able to spend more time with his family.
Paul Whitaker, 42, from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, was told in April 2024 that he had a grade 3 astrocytoma, a rare and unpredictable form of brain cancer.
Mr Whitaker, who has been a firefighter for 17 years, received a range of treatments but needed to raise more than £140,000 for “groundbreaking” immunotherapy, which is not available through the NHS or private insurance.
He hoped that ADCV treatment would give him the chance to watch his sons grow and hold his wife’s hand “a little bit longer.”
Mr Whitaker says he and his wife, Hayley, try to protect their children as much as possible, adding: “Even if their parents hold back silent tears, they still deserve laughter, bedtime stories and carefree days.” [Supplied]
Mr Whitaker underwent an awake craniotomy at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, followed by weeks of daily radiotherapy and recently completed a year of chemotherapy.
“When I heard the words ‘I have a brain tumor,’ everything we knew was shattered,” he said.
“I have a wonderful wife, Hayley, and two wonderful young sons. [aged six and eight] And they are my world and everything I fight for.”
The prognosis for the disease is fatal, with an average survival time of just a few years, but Mr Whitaker said he wanted to spend more time with his family.
He added that this was “the hardest year of our lives” and that they did everything to make life enjoyable for their children.
On October 14, Mr. Whitaker said his last MRI showed that his cancer had shrunk and become stable; He said this was “the best outcome we could hope for at this stage, especially as we prepare to take the next big step – joining the ADCV special programme”. [Supplied]
The treatment for which Mr. Whitaker was fundraising was produced in the same manner as the cure. DCVax-L The vaccine had a successful clinical trial and was completed in 2015.
This was a personalized vaccine that helped the immune system recognize and attack tumor cells.
“It’s amazing. It’s truly groundbreaking… and it has almost no side effects compared to chemotherapy,” he said.
“That’s why we’re fundraising, not for a miracle, but to watch our sons grow, to hold my wife’s hand a little longer, to give us a chance to live and to give our sons a chance to spend more years with their father,” he added.
He praised people’s kindness after more than £30,000 of the £140,000 target was raised in around 10 days.
“Time is a really precious thing and a situation like this really highlights that,” he said.
“There are still a lot of things I want to do, and most of them revolve around my two young sons.”
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