Dean Mandabva is a player in our U11 Rovers (Tom Marshall is his Manager/Coach). In June 2019, Dean collapsed, after tests he was diagnosed with a brain tumour and his parents told that it was inoperable with the only treatment available to Dean on the NHS being radiotherapy.
After undergoing 30 sessions of radiography Dean’s cancer went into remission and he was able to return to school and Moretonville with his friends.
Tragically in February this year, more tests revealed that not only had the tumour returned but it had spread to other parts of Dean’s brain. His parents were advised to admit him to a hospice and offered palliative care.
The irony of this is that Dean’s parents – David & Mercy – are both NHS nurses. David works as a Senior Staff Nurse at the Luton & Dunstable Hospital and Mercy works as a Stroke Nurse at MK Hospital. But these people who have worked for years helping others in the NHS and continue to do so on the COVID19 front line even TODAY, cannot help their own son through the NHS…
David & Mercy have done extensive research and identified clinical trials available in America but due to COVID19 travel restrictions, this was not possible. However, they were not deterred and have discovered that Dendritic Cell Therapy (a form of immunotherapy involving a cancer vaccine made from your own blood) is available in Germany and Spain.
The treatment will hopefully shrink the tumour and give Dean the chance to live a normal life, play again with his friends and live into adulthood. But this treatment will cost £50,000, a figure that David
and Mercy just can’t afford. Initial prognosis gave Dean just twelve months to live but he is holding on and now fighting for his life.
The family have set up a Go Fund Me page called “Dean’s Brave Fight Against DIPG Brain Tumour” in order to raise money to fund the specialist treatment. Monies raised over the £50,000 target will be donated to the charity Brain Tumour Research (based in Milton Keynes) and local charities supporting Dean. The fundraising campaign is backed by the two leading charities in this sector, Brain Tumour Research and The Brain Tumour Charity.
PLEASE, PLEASE SUPPORT DEAN BY DONATING WHAT YOU CAN AND SPREADING THE WORD… Come on Moretonville, Come on Buckingham – lets give this everything we can!!
If you can help in any way please donate here
https://www.gofundme.com/f/dean039s-brave-fight-against-dipg-brain-tumour
