Cure4Charley

Cure4Charley: Raising Funds For 34 Year Old Hove Mum

NATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO RAISE FUNDS FOR LIFESAVING IMMUNOTHERPAY TREATMENT

Friends and family of Charley Ashton, a 34 year old mum with a very rare and aggressive strain of cancer have launched a national campaign, Cure4Charley (cure4charley.com) to raise £100,000 in a bid to provide her with lifesaving immunotherapy treatment that is currently not available on the NHS.
Charley was diagnosed with cancer in 2015 and since then, it has been attacking her vital organs rapidly, specifically her stomach, liver and peritoneum. The strain of the cancer is so rare, doctors currently do not even have a name for it. To date, Charley’s treatment has consisted of six rounds of aggressive chemotherapy and medics have confirmed that she can only sustain one more course due to the impact it has on her heart.

Currently, without further treatment Charley has time against her and her terminal prognosis remains ever present. The only potential cure is immunotherapy – a revolutionary therapy which works to harness the body’s immune system to hunt out and attack cancer cells. With the last course of chemotherapy approaching, the loving mother is desperate to try the ground-breaking treatment as it is her only chance to see her 18 month daughter Aurelia grow up.


While Charley is fighting the biggest battle of her life, her friends and family have set up the Cure4Charley #cure4charley fund (www.gofundme.com/2csb3vg) on 10th July to help pay for the cost of the immunotherapy therapy. They have already raised over £50,000 since launching and there are a series of fundraising events in the pipeline including a world first with Charley’s friend Alastair Carlow waterskiing 64 miles from Canada to America and back again. In addition, a bike ride is taking place from the Royal Marsden Hospital in London to Brighton Beach, 30 hikes in 30 days in the Alps and Charley’s brother Olly Fryatt waterskiing across the English Channel.

Immunotherapy is relatively new and has been heralded as the next generation in cancer treatment. According to Cancer Research, it re-awakens the immune system so it can fight cancer. Engaging the immune system in this way might have long-lasting benefits, if the immune system can ‘remember’ the cancer and stop it coming back.
As it’s still in the trial stages, immunotherapy is only available on the NHS for melanoma sufferers. Currently, other cancer patients like Charley who want to harness the lifesaving therapy have to find £100,000 to pay the treatment cost themselves.

Charley Ashton says: “I only have one more round of chemo left and I am now wondering what is next. Doctors have told me that immunotherapy is the only other treatment that has the potential for me to see my beautiful daughter Aurelia grow up. It is a race against time and the longer I can have with Aurelia the better, so I am blessing every day I see her. She is changing and developing all the time and starting to say words – she is calling me mama and it is wonderful.

“I am overwhelmed by the kind words of encouragement from everyone who has donated to the Cure4Charley fund so far. It has totally blown me away and it really has given me the added strength to keep going on. It has completely restored my faith in human kindness and I truly hope that I get the opportunity in the future to help others fight battles that they feel they cannot do alone.”
In the UK, rare and less common cancers make up 54% of all cancer deaths, spread equally amongst males and females1 and research is needed to help patients and save more lives.

Find out more at cure4charley.com or anyone wishing to donate can visit www.gofundme.com/2csb3vg. Any money raised that Charley does not need will be given to the Rarer Cancers Foundation (www.rarercancers.org.uk).

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