by A young father who was diagnosed with incurable brain cancer after experiencing numbness in his fingers, has boldly declared he will “squeeze” his five-year prognosis. Jack Carpenter, a 36-year-old personal trainer, realized something was wrong when he felt strange things in his fingers and struggled with simple tasks such as turning off the car or picking up a pen.
After undergoing a CT scan two months later, Jack and his wife Emily, also 36, were shocked to learn that doctors had found three tumors in his brain – an incident so terrifying that he collapsed Jack for getting the news. In September, he was officially diagnosed with grade three astrocytoma, an incurable form of brain cancer, and given three to five years to live.
However, from October 21, Jack will begin a regimen of radiotherapy and chemotherapy to try and shrink the tumours. He has also embarked on various health kicks with the goal of prolonging his life for his young daughters, Margot, three, and Elodie, one.
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“I’ve come to the realization that this will get me eventually but I’m not letting anyone tell me I’ve got two years, five years, one year,” said Jack, who has launched a GoFundMe page by his family to support him, with PA Real Saol. “It’s sad and it’s clear that you cry, you think about your children, but I’m not feeling sad anymore because my immediate attention has turned to proving people wrong. They don’t know me, they don’t they know my fitness level, they don’t know the strength I need to do everything I can to overcome those five years.”
Emily, who works as a professional fundraiser for mental health charity Mind, shared the emotional impact of her partner’s illness, especially after losing her mother to cancer just before her 21st birthday.
“Obviously this takes me back to that time and there’s a lot of emotion involved,” she said. “For me, finding Jack is different because I have to deal with my children’s feelings and my own.”
Started feeling unusual symptoms in June
In June, Jack, from Felixstowe, East Suffolk, began experiencing unusual numbness in his fingers and a disconnect between his brain’s commands and his body’s responses.
“I would turn off the engine in my car and my brain would freeze, so I know what I want to do but my left finger won’t push the button,” he explained. “Even simple things like picking up a pen, I want to miss the pen to pick it up.”
Jack visited his GP where a number of tests were carried out, including checks on his sight and balance, but no significant issues were identified. At first it was suspected to be a trapped nerve, and Jack was advised by his local hospital in Ipswich to have a routine CT scan to rule out other concerns, which took place on 27 August.
Devastated by the results, Jack’s partner Emily told of the harrowing moment: “Jack went into complete shock, he passed out in the chair,” after they found out that the scan revealed three brain tumors.
He was quickly referred to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge for further investigation, where a biopsy carried out on 4 September confirmed one of the tumours. On September 10, Jack received the grim diagnosis of a grade three astrocytoma.
In an effort to combat the swelling in his brain, Jack has been on steroids since his diagnosis, and is scheduled to begin radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment at Ipswich Hospital on October 21.
Emily said: “I’m so sorry for Margot and Elodie – they’re desperate for normality and it’s hard for us to give them that at the moment,” adding: “I’m a mum and I want it to do that. protect my two girls from this.”
Despite living an incredibly healthy lifestyle as a personal trainer and athlete for eight years, including running his own steeplechase training facility, Jack said: “My doctor told me I’m 21 completely from my neck. new athlete.
“Sometimes I lie in bed and think, ‘why me? What have I done to deserve this?’, but it is nothing I did that caused this.
“I’m just that 1%, a very lucky person that whatever caused this maybe a snip of DNA gone wrong somewhere.”
Jack mentioned that he struggled with fatigue after any form of physical activity, which he said was challenging to explain to his young daughter Margot. “There are many cancer factors at the moment and he is learning every day what is the best thing to do,” he said.
“But how do I explain to my daughter that I don’t want to do jigsaw puzzles with her because I’m so tired?”
Emily added that her eldest daughter’s superpower is her “emotional intelligence”, saying: “She’s in tune with us and any negativity in the house, she stays on it straight away. She knows daddy’s got a bad head but it’s very difficult.”
Jack has since embarked on a series of health kicks, such as implementing a ketogenic diet, which involves eliminating sugars and hormones and eating organic fruits, vegetables and grass-fed meats, and cheese plants to place around their homes to help improve oxygen levels at home. their environment. “If you can feed your body with really good, healthy fats, you’re getting all that goodness for the brain, which hopefully will help,” he explained.
The family has also set up a GoFundMe page to help with the day-to-day costs of Jack’s treatment.
So far, they have managed to raise more than £6,000, and while financial contributions continue to grow, offers of practical support are also welcome — such as keeping Jack company during his hospital visits or helping to take the family dog for walks. “He understands how wonderful people are, it really makes me happy to see people donate,” Jack said.
Sharing her husband’s sentiments, charity worker Emily said: “People’s generosity always blows my mind but when it happens to you, it’s so shocking.”
For more information or to donate, please visit the family’s fundraising page here.
