Matt Jones and his family have had a difficult time dealing with the diagnosis, after the bowel cancer spread to his liver, but a GoFundMe page has raised £5,000 for the family to support them.
We spoke about it more on The Kent Morning Show.
We spoke about it more on The Kent Morning Show.
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00:00Finn joins us in the studio now. Finn, this is obviously the top story over on
00:04Canton Online today, so there's plenty more that can be read up there, but what can you tell us?
00:08Well, naturally the news has been difficult to bear for Matt and his family.
00:12It's like you said, he has four young children and following his diagnosis he
00:17told us that he's worried his youngest children, who are 20 months old,
00:21won't even remember him when he's gone. He also went on to say that hearing
00:26there was no option for surgery left him feeling empty and that when he found
00:29out about the cancer's return he broke down. But the news that he has only 18
00:34months to live, he said, just filled him and his wife with complete numbness.
00:40And what are the family doing from now? Of course, we mentioned it in our
00:45introduction this morning that there's a GoFundMe set up and some money's been
00:49raised so far. What's that going to go towards?
00:51Well, it's like you say, despite all the difficult news, Matt and Nicky are determined,
00:56his wife, to make the time he has left really count and help him make memories
01:01with the time he has left. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the Jones
01:05family enjoy special moments together and people have been donating money but
01:10there's also been fundraisers, raffles, golf days, so much that Matt says he
01:14can't keep up with it all. As to what it's going towards, the GoFundMe is
01:18raising money towards a trip to Disneyland Orlando as well as just
01:22providing financial support to the family as they aren't really working at
01:25the moment. It's currently at more than £5,000 towards their £10,000
01:29goal and he says, right now, I don't know how we've got through it all but somehow
01:32we have and I'm just focusing on making the most of the time I have left and
01:36spending it with the people I love.
01:38Yeah, it's incredible, isn't it, just how much people rally around a story like
01:42this and are willing to donate their money, you know, to make sure that, as you
01:46say, the family can have a good time. Obviously, Disneyland Paris, or
01:50Disneyland for that family, for those children, they will create memories
01:54that will stay with them forever.
01:55Absolutely and they say, you know, his wife Nikki was there with him to hear
01:59the news and it's so difficult for them. As Matt sometimes says, he feels as
02:03though he's normal and as for their children, they have two young twin girls
02:08who are only 20 months old and then two older children who are five and eight. As
02:12you can see there, that's their family photo and the couple haven't yet broken
02:15the news of Matt's 18 months to live to the eldest two children. He says,
02:20they know I've been unwell but we haven't told them everything yet.
02:23We want to keep things as normal as possible for them and the two young
02:26twins were born just weeks before Matt's initial diagnosis so you can
02:30understand how difficult it is for them.
02:31Yeah, that's been an incredibly challenging two years. Could you take us
02:38through exactly what his diagnosis is?
02:40I believe he was originally diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer back in 2022
02:45but now, before he was diagnosed, again saying the cancer had returned and he
02:52was going to go in for surgery to have more of the bowel removed. However, he
02:55was then told that the cancer had spread to his liver, meaning removal was
02:59impossible and that's why the doctors have now given him this 18-month
03:03timeline.
03:04Yeah, over on Kent Online it says, Matt, who's originally from Tenterden, says
03:08they've been blown away by the kindness of friends, family and even strangers who
03:11have rallied to support them. He said he doesn't know how he's got it through, gone
03:15through it all, but somehow they have and right now he's focusing on making the
03:18most of the time he has left and spending with the people he loves and we
03:22imagine that GoFundMe will go a way to supporting some very, very special
03:26memories.
03:27Alright, Finn, thank you very much for those details.