Chesterfield family launch mission to raise £100,000 as dad of four faces terminal brain cancer diagnosis – with pub hosting fundraisers

Gavin Melen, 35, was diagnosed with a brain tumour back in May - just a few days after suffering a seizure. The Chesterfield father and his wife Natalie, 34, have four children - 13-year-old Oscar, 10-year-old Lucas, five-year-old Miles and three-year-old Evan.

He underwent two surgeries before doctors confirmed that he was facing Glioblastoma - an aggressive Grade 4 brain cancer for which there is no cure, limited treatment options and a bleak prognosis.

The possibility of accessing clinical trials in the UK has now been ruled out, and Gavin’s family are hoping to raise £100,000 to help him to access private therapeutic treatment - with Germany now emerging as their most likely option.

Tara Elsmore, Gavin’s sister-in-law, explained that there were a number of different private treatments that might slow the growth of Gavin’s cancer - giving him more time to spend with his family.

She said: “There’s a dendritic cell vaccine, where a vaccine is manufactured using part of his tumour. That’s then given back to him, in the hope that it will fight off the tumour. It won’t cure it, but it will hopefully keep it stable and slow down the growth.

“Because of the way they stored the tissue they removed, UK clinical trials have been completely ruled out. The alternative is to go to Germany - it is cheaper there, but again, it is still thousands and thousands of pounds.

“There are different chemotherapies that can be done privately, that would be more specific to Gavin’s actual cancer. The one that they offer on the NHS isn’t specific to his cancer, so the likelihood that it will do a great deal is slim to none. They don’t offer the specific chemotherapy on the NHS - it’s only for very specific cases as it’s just too expensive.”

Another possible treatment that Gavin’s family are considering is the use of Optune Gio. These are wearable devices that create electric fields, which work to slow down or stop the Glioblastoma dividing. This, however, costs £17,500 a month, and requires a three month deposit of £54,000.

Tara added: “There’s lots of things that they’re looking into, but first of all, they’ve got to get through the radiotherapy - which will be in the next three to four weeks. This is the time that they want to raise the money, in order to hopefully crack on with one of these private treatments. I’m not sure which one they’ll go for yet - it very much depends on how Gavin reacts to the radiotherapy.”

Gavin underwent a debulking surgery on August 20, after his most recent MRI scan showed that his tumour had grown considerably over a five-week period.

Surgeons were able to remove 75% of the tumour, with the hope of improving his chances of responding to any subsequent treatments. The procedure has, sadly, left Gavin with ‘Left Homonymous Hemianopsia’ - meaning he has left side total vision loss from the vertical midline in both of his eyes.

Fundraising efforts are already well underway, with the team at Beyond Nutrition on Derby Road taking on a 322 mile air bike challenge - the distance of the round trip from Chesterfield to the home ground of Tottenham Hotspur FC.

Gavin’s brothers, Luke and Jake, are set to take on the nine edges challenge on September 13 - a 37km hike across the nine edges of the Peak District. Their fundraising page can be found here.

The next major fundraising event is taking place at The Badger pub on Brockwell Lane, between 2.00pm and 6.00pm on Saturday, September 14.

Tara said: “We’re going to be having live music throughout the afternoon. We’ve got Olivia Bedford, Dion Pickering, Madeleine Towle, Jack Algar, Adam McCulloch and Craig Barker singing throughout the day. Olivia’s stepdad has very kindly offered to bring the PA system and be the sound man, so that’s amazing.

“We’ve got a tombola, bouncy castle, water or wine games, cupcakes, crafts and jewellery stalls.

“We’ve had so many things donated for a jumble sale - we’ve got cots, loads of baby stuff, clothes and all sorts. There’ll be slime making, lucky dip and penalty shootout as well - there’s lots going on.”

A charity golf tournament is also taking place on Friday, September 27 - at the Stanedge Golf Club in Ashover.

Tara added: “In the evening, people are going to come back to The Badger. We’ve got The Shambles doing a little set, and then we’re going to draw the raffle.

“There are raffle tickets on sale, you can see them on the Facebook page. After that, we’re going to do an auction of all the really fantastic prizes we’ve got. All of those will be listed on the Facebook page, and I think we’re going to go live with the auction on Facebook as well, so people can bid online if they can’t get to The Badger.

More than £14,000 has already been donated to support Gavin’s family as they explore his options for private treatment - and Tara said they were overwhelmed by the response so far.

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She said: “It’s amazing. Absolutely overwhelmed is an understatement. It’s just so fabulous. Not just from the people who have donated on the JustGiving page, but from those who have come to us with raffle prizes and donations for the fun day and other things.

“The more people that know, the better. If anyone can donate, that’s incredible, if they can just share the story, that’s incredible too.”

The link to Gavin’s JustGiving page can be found here. His family have set up a Facebook page, which can be found here for any updates on their fundraising efforts.