Newquay teenager fundraises for dad's cancer treatment
A £20,000 target has been set
A teenager from Newquay is fundraising to pay for cancer treatment - which could save his dad's life.
17-year-old Ethan Barrett is hoping to raise £20,000 to fund his dad's immunotherapy- which can only be accessed abroad.
His father has been diagnosed with differentiated thyroid cancer which has metastasised to other parts of his body such as his lungs and lymph nodes.
The doctors have tried various treatment methods but Mr Barrett no longer responds to the radioactive iodine medication available within the NHS.
As such, Ethan and his family have sought alternative treatment options - finding a cancer specialist team at HC Marbella which offers immunotherapy.
This treatment, which is not available on the NHS, harnesses the body's own immune system to fight cancer cells.
Ethan says the cost of this however, is too much for the family to bear -his Dad is currently out of employment due to illness and his mum works six days a week at two different jobs to provide for his family of five.
Ethan Barrett tells us:
"The doctors kept trying numerous things and they just weren't working - which really brings you down.
"This treatment however, we are really hopeful- you can see the massive difference to my family with all the support we've gotten so far.
"It's really added an extra level of hope to my dad especially who was struggling.
"It's been really hard as they're treatments out there that all these other countries have and we don't.
"When its something so crucial, there needs to be something out there to help these people because the amount of people that are trying to get this treatment and have tried to raise the money, when they finally do it's often too late.
"It just isn't fair."
On the support he's had so far, Ethan told us:
"The fundraiser's been shared around to lots of my friends and they've reposted it.
"Somewhere I work in Newquay called Jon Bouys - which is a fish and chip shop - they've printed QR codes and are sticking them on the fish and chip boxes and they've put posters up.
"The support around are community and area has just been so amazing - it's brought us so much hope to see how many people really care."