Former music journalist Jon Chapple has launched a fundraising campaign for life-saving cancer treatment.
The 34-year-old writer and PR account manager was diagnosed with stage-four bowel cancer in January 2022, aged 32, and has since undergone radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery.
Chapple was news editor at live music business title IQ for nearly six years, between 2016 and 2021, and was previously deputy editor of pro-audio industry title PSNEurope.
“While the combination of chemotherapy and surgery seemed to be successful, my cancer is aggressive and grew back in my liver within a couple of months of being off chemo,” Chapple said on his Go Fund Me page. “For this reason, I have now been told no further surgery is possible.”
He has so far raised more than £40,000 towards his £75,000 target for dendritic cell therapy (also known as cancer vaccines) in Germany – a treatment that is not available through the NHS.
Novel treatments like dendritic cell therapy, which has a success rate of 60% for stage-four cancers, are now my only hope of being cured
Jon Chapple
“It’s a miracle treatment: one that could allow me to once again live a ‘normal’ life, able to participate in the things – and make the kind of plans for the future – you expect to be able to in your early 30s,” the post continues.
“When I asked my doctor in the UK, he told me, frankly, that dendritic vaccines are the future of cancer care. Unfortunately, such personalised treatments are still decades away from being on the NHS.
“They are currently only available privately and only in Germany, and are way out of my price range: £50,000 is a conservative estimate for the consultations, the creation of the vaccines, and the vaccines themselves (initially four), and that’s only for the first round of jabs. Novel treatments like dendritic cell therapy, which has a success rate of 60% for stage-four cancers, are now my only hope of being cured – but it will take the kindness of strangers to help me be able to afford it.”
Donate to Jon Chapple’s fundraising page here.
