Dad-of-two John needs Buddies’ help in cancer battle
There is still time to back an appeal to help a dad raise £220,000 for a pioneering live liver operation.
The race is on to send 35-year-old John McCallum to Germany in a“last chance”to save him from cancer.
The cost is £220,000 and his mum Elaine revealed they’re now approaching £94,000.
John is from a well-known Paisley family and Elaine, a former maths teacher in the town, said:“I am hoping Paisley Buddies can help us keep John with us.
“He and most of the family are loyal St Mirren fans, despite us moving to Linlithgow.”
The dad has two daughters and is clinging to the hope he can watch them grow up.
The clinical trial operation in Germany involves him receiving part of a liver from a donor who is still alive.
Elaine,68, taught at the former Sacred Heart High, lived in Foxbar and attended Camphill High.
She said:“John went into hospital with suspected appendicitis on Father’s Day last year, but surgery found that a cancerous tumour had perforated his colon.
“Since then, he has undergone chemo as the cancer has spread to his liver.
“The first chemo session shrunk the tumours, but the second had no positive effect.
“The tumours had enlarged and the hoped for surgery to remove them was no longer an option.
“He is now on more chemo with the hope that the tumours will reduce in size or stay stable so that the live donor liver transplant can take place in Germany.”
John, who now lives in Haddington, East Lothian, and is married to Lorna, has stage four bowel cancer, but says he is determined to battle on.
He said:“I was in hospital for about a week when I was told it was bowel cancer, which I did not expect.
“In May, I was running 5k a day and a few weeks later I’m in a hospital covered in stitches.”
Surgeons removed the large tumour in his bowel which had caused a perforation, as well as his appendix as a precautionary measure.
However, the cancer had spread to his liver.
Express readers can help by donating at https://www.gofundme. com/f/9g9rx-help-john-beat-stage-4cancer