Heartbreak of dad with just 18 months left to live
A DAD has been told his cancer is incurable - less than a year after visiting the doctors complaining of a stomach bug.
Jonathan Silcock, 37, from Cheetham Hill, may now have just 18 months left to live beside new bride Chelsea and his daughter Rosaleah, 4.
He went to doctors in February this year after he noticed he was losing weight and started vomiting after eating. Following a endoscopy and biopsy, he was handed the devastating news he had stage four pancreatic cancer.
“It came as such a shock,” Jonathan said. “I have always been in and out of hospital but I never expected the news and I immediately started worrying about what it would mean for Chelsea and Rosaleah.”
Jonathan had to process this on his own because Covid restrictions in place at the time meant he could not have any loved ones beside him.
Determined to not let the cancer stop him, he still said “I do” to the love of his life Chelsea on June 2, just a few short months after receiving the news.
But weeks after tying the knot, Jonathan, who also lives with cerebral palsy after being born four months premature, was told his cancer had spread to his bowels and oesophagus. He has had to rely on a feeding tube to be able to eat ever since.
And in a recent follow-up hospital appointment, the dad-of-one was told the growth has spread to his lungs. This has now shortened his life expectancy from three years to just 18 months.
He said: “Me and Chelsea hadn’t planned to get married so soon but we just knew we had to go ahead with it after I was given the diagnosis.”
Chemotherapy - Jonathan’s only hope of treatment - had to be stopped as the cancer spread. He now suffers from breathlessness and uses a wheelchair to get around.
Wife Chelsea and daughter Rosaleah have remained his “rock” throughout the diagnosis, with Chelsea now his full-time carer.
Now, he is determined to spend his remaining days making memories with his family.
“My daughter is only four and she has seen me go through all this. It just isn’t right,” he said.
“Chelsea wants to go to Benidorm and I promised my daughter I would take her to Disneyland.
“It is so important to us so that when the time does come, they can both look back on these times with a smile. It really makes you realise how important life is and how you should always make the most of each day.”
His sister-in-law Suzanne, from Salford, has set up a Go Fund Me page to help the family.
HE THOUGHT HE HAD STOMACH BUG – INSTEAD IT WAS INCURABLE CANCER