A young father diagnosed with incurable brain cancer after experiencing numbness in his fingers has boldly declared he will 'crush' his five-year prognosis. Jack Carpenter, a 36-year-old personal trainer, realized something was wrong when he started experiencing strange sensations in his fingertips and struggled with simple tasks like turning off the car or reaching for a pen.
After undergoing a CT scan two months later, Jack and his wife Emily, also 36, were devastated to learn that doctors had discovered three tumors in his brain - an incident so shocking that Jack fainted when he heard the news. In September, he was officially diagnosed with grade three astrocytoma, a formidable and untreatable form of brain cancer, and given three to five years to live.
Nevertheless, from October 21, Jack will begin a regimen of radiotherapy and chemotherapy to try to shrink the tumors. He has also launched several health kicks with the aim of extending life for his young daughters, Margot, three, and Elodie, one.
READ MORE: 'I wanted to die after what he did to me'"I've come to the realization that this is going to get to me in the end, but I'm not going to let anyone tell me I have two years, five years, one year," Jack, whose family has launched a GoFundMe page to support him, told PA Real. To live. "It's sad and you're obviously crying, you're thinking about your children, but I don't feel sad anymore because my immediate focus is on proving people wrong. They don't know me, they don't know my condition. the power I use to do everything I can to crush those five years."
Emily, who works as a professional fundraiser for mental health charity Mind, shared the emotional impact of her partner's illness, especially after losing her mother to cancer just before her 21st birthday.
"This definitely reminds me of that time and there's a lot of emotion in it," she said. "For me it's a very different problem than Jack finds it, because I'm dealing with my children's emotions and my own emotions."
I started feeling unusual symptoms in June
In June, Jack, from Felixstowe, East Suffolk, began experiencing unusual numbness in his fingers and a disconnect between his brain's commands and his body's responses.
"When I turned off the engine of my car, my brain would freeze, so I knew what I wanted to do, but my left finger wouldn't press the button," he explained. "Even simple things like picking up a pen, I would miss the pen to pick it up."
Jack visited his GP where a number of tests were carried out, including checks on his vision and balance, but no significant problems were identified. It was initially suspected to be a pinched nerve, but Jack was advised by his local hospital in Ipswich to have a routine CT scan on August 27 to rule out other problems.
Devastated by the results, Jack's partner Emily told the harrowing moment: "Jack went into complete shock, he passed out in the chair," after they learned the scan had revealed three brain tumors.
He was quickly referred to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge for further investigation, where a biopsy carried out on September 4 confirmed one of the tumours. On September 10, Jack was given the grim diagnosis of a grade three astrocytoma.
In an attempt to combat the swelling in his brain, Jack has been taking steroids since his diagnosis, with plans to start radiotherapy and chemotherapy at Ipswich Hospital from October 21.
Emily said: "A lot of my sadness is sadness for Margot and Elodie - they are desperate for normality and it's hard for us to give it to them now," adding: "I'm a mother and I try to do that protect my two girls from this."
Despite leading a remarkably healthy lifestyle as a personal trainer and athlete for eight years, including running his own obstacle course training centre, Jack said: "My doctor told me that from the neck down I am a 21-year-old who is completely... full-fledged athlete.
"Sometimes I lie in bed and think, 'Why me? What did I do to deserve this?', but it's nothing I did that caused this.
"I'm just that 1%, a very unfortunate person that whatever caused this may have been a DNA cut that went wrong somewhere."
Jack said he also suffers from fatigue after any form of physical activity, which he says is difficult to explain to his young daughter Margot. "There are a lot of cancer factors out there right now and we're learning every day what's the best thing to do," he said.
"But how do I explain to my daughter that I don't want to do puzzles with her because I'm so tired?"
Emily added that their eldest daughter's superpower is her "emotional intelligence." ."
Jack has since embarked on a series of health improvements, such as implementing a ketogenic diet, which eliminates sugars and hormones, consuming organic fruits, vegetables, and grass-fed meats, and placing cheese plants around their home to increase oxygen levels in their home. help increase. their environment. "If you can fuel your body with really good, healthy fats, you're going to get all that good stuff to the brain, which should hopefully help," he explained.
The family has also set up a GoFundMe page to help with the daily costs of Jack's treatment.
So far they have managed to raise over £6,000, and while the financial contributions continue to flow in, offers of practical support are also welcome, such as keeping Jack company on his hospital visits or helping to take the dog for walks . "It makes you realize how wonderful people are, it makes me happy to see people donating," said Jack.
Charity worker Emily shared her husband's sentiment, saying: "I'm constantly overwhelmed by people's generosity, but when it happens to you it's so humbling."
For more information or to make a donation, you can visit the family's fundraising page here.