Ashford man given 18 months to live after cancer resurgence

KentOnline / KMTV

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.

Transcript

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.

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