Derbyshire family ‘overwhelmed’ by support for charity football match after their son’s ‘brave fight’ against rare cancer

James Bailey was just 28 years old when he sadly died on April 1, after being diagnosed with Cholangiocarcinoma – a rare cancer that affects the bile duct.

His mum Wendy said that James, from Matlock, had faced health issues for a number of years – and his risk of this cancer was increased by two different conditions he had developed.

“In 2015, when James was 21, he was diagnosed with Colitis. He was handling that okay as far as we were aware, going through all the necessary things with that

“In December 2021, we noticed that his face and eyes had gone yellow. We went to the hospital with that. He had a stent fitted in his bile duct and another procedure in January 2022, but after that he was okay – he seemed to be fine and getting on with his life.

“In August 2022 we noticed his eyes were going yellow again. He was taken straight into hospital and diagnosed with Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC). The Colitis had been attacking his bile duct, and they told us that having these two things together, there was a chance of getting cancer in the bile duct.”

It was November last year when James was diagnosed with cancer – which Wendy said then spread into his liver.

“James was in and out of hospital, and they were preparing him for a liver transplant for his PSC. After going to hospital in Leeds they said that they had found cancer cells, and two days later in November 2022 they rang James and told him he had cancer in his bile duct.

“Nothing was really done other than a CT scan until January. We were then told by a consultant over the phone that the cancer had spread significantly.

“We assumed it was still in the bile duct, as we hadn’t been told any differently. A doctor at Chesterfield Royal Hospital in February then told us that ‘significantly’ meant the cancer had spread to his liver – we were totally shocked by this.”

James, who wanted to be surrounded by his family, passed away at home two months later – but not without putting up what Wendy described as a real fight.

“He had been okay, he was going to work up to a fortnight before he died. The last week before he died, he just went downhill.

“He was at home – he knew the diagnosis and what the outcome would be. We always said we wanted him to be at home and he wanted to be at home as long as he could be too.

“He put up a good fight. The nurses told us that he fought and fought until he couldn’t anymore. It was a short illness, and we did think he might have a little bit longer with us, but that wasn’t the case.”

Peter, James’ dad, said that he was “our brave little soldier. James fought this so bravely right to the end, and he was so unselfish. He always wanted to put others before himself, and he did that up until his last breath – he was always thinking of others and trying to protect us.”

On Wednesday, April 19, a charity football match is being held in James’ memory at Matlock Town FC’s Proctor Cars Stadium – with kickoff at 7.15pm.

Wendy said that the plan was for James to manage one of the teams, with all the proceeds going towards AMMF – a charity that works to raise awareness of Cholangiocarcinoma and support those diagnosed with the cancer.

“James is known to his mates as Bazz. It’s Bazz’s Boys and Girls, who are all James’ friends, and Pete’s managing their team. James was going to manage the other team, which is made up of his workmates from the Derbyshire County Council Exchequer.

“We’ve raised over £4,500 already, and Ellie Wood, who has organised the match, has raised around £600 on raffle tickets alone. A friend of ours had made keyrings that have flown out as well. We’ll be taking collections at the game as well for AMMF – they’ve been really good.

“We’d never heard of this cancer and it’s very rare in young people. James was just unfortunate with his colitis and PSC.

“We do think it took quite a long time to diagnose James. We were told in December 2021 that there was something abnormal. There were abnormal cells, but they then said it was just inflammation. Was it that or cancer? We just don’t know, and you have to catch this cancer right at the beginning.”

Mandy said that James’ loved ones could hardly believe the level of support from those who knew him, as well as the wider Matlock community – with the town rallying to get behind their fundraising push.

“The outpouring we’ve had has been so overwhelming. We’ve been all around Matlock and we’ve had so many prizes from all the shops. Peter has just been for a walk today and came home with £20 from people who wanted to buy raffle tickets.

“Peter and myself have had lots of messages from people we didn’t know who had lost children themselves - it’s nice that they’ve reached out and they know what we’re going through.

“We knew he was a popular lad and everything, but we didn’t realise how many people thought so much of him. That’s what’s kept us going as well – we’ve had lots of videos from his friends of what they’d get up to so that’s been really nice. You don’t realise and that’s what has been so overwhelming.”

For more details, or to donate, head to the James Bailey Memorial Cup Facebook page here.