A DAD was diagnosed with cancer just two days after the birth of his third child.
Jay Martin, 47, noticed a lump on his neck in March 2023 but thought it was a swollen gland until it started to get bigger.
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Two months later, in May 2023, just 48 hours after his third child was born, he went to Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton, Somerset, alongside his wife, Sarah, 38, to get it checked out.
Doctors looked down Jay’s throat and told him they suspected he had cancer in his tonsil, with a biopsy later confirming the diagnosis.
Within two weeks, Jay had an operation to remove one of his tonsils and started six weeks of chemotherapy and radiotherapy in June 2023.
After this, a scan showed the cancer had gone from his tonsils but was still in his neck.
In February 2024, Jay underwent a throat dissection – an operation to remove 13 lymph nodes, two nerves, and saliva glands.
He then went another four months without treatment until a scan in June 2024 showed the cancer had spread to his chest and spine – and doctors told the family it was incurable.
Jay has now started immunotherapy in the hope it will stabilise the cancer, but Sarah admits they don’t know what will happen next.
Sarah, a beauty trainer, from Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, said: “The hope is that the immunotherapy will stabilise the cancer.
“Jay will have the treatment for two years but we’re not sure what will happen.
“For the first week after finding out the cancer had spread Jay was a mess as you worry about telling the children.
“We had told the children it has spread but haven’t told them how bad it could be as we don’t know what is going to happen.
“It is so surreal for us – it doesn’t feel like it is happening.
“We feel numb, I don’t think either of us has properly registered what is happening.”
Two months before the birth of their third child, Jay noticed a lump on his neck but thought it was a swollen gland until it started to get bigger.
He went to get it checked out two days after the tot was born.
Sarah said: “They looked down his throat and pretty much then and there confirmed it was cancer in his tonsils.
“They did a biopsy and within a week they confirmed it was cancer.
“A lot of people thought it would cast a shadow over the birth of our newborn but it was the opposite.
“It was nice to have something to focus on; Jay would be feeling down and I would walk in with our boy and it would always make him smile.”
Jay is not working and I am not able to work much but we would also really like to do things as a family
Sarah
After having a tonsil removed Jay also underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy, however he later discovered the cancer had left his tonsils but was in his neck.
Sarah said: “When he finished his treatment we had to wait three to four months to see what was going to happen.
“We went for a scan and they said the cancer was in his neck – it had spread from his tonsils.”
In February 2024, Jay then underwent a throat dissection – an operation to remove groups of lymph nodes.
The operation was successful and they removed some nerves and veins that had cancer attached.
Sarah said: “We waited another four months and in June 2024 we found out it had spread to his chest and spine.
“They deem it incurable, the hope is that immunotherapy will help stabilise the cancer but we just don’t know what will happen.
“We’re all a member of Berrow Football Club and one of the school mums said she can’t stop thinking about what is happening to us.
“Jay is not working and I am not able to work much but we would also really like to do things as a family.”
Jay is now at the beginning of two years’ worth of immunotherapy and relatives and friends have set up a GoFundMe for the family to make memories.
The fundraiser has raised £7,000 since it was published – £2,000 more than it’s original goal.
“We would love to take the kids on a memorable holiday and make as many memories with them as we can,” the parents said.
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Reg flags of cancer you must look for and act upon
THERE are more than 200 types of cancer, each with its own set of symptoms.
A cough lasting three weeks or more is a key sign of lung cancer – the most common cancer in the UK.
Changes to bowel habits lasting more than three weeks, such as diarrhoea, constipation, blood when you poo, or needing to go more often, are signs of bowel cancer, the second most common form of the disease.
There are also common symptoms that can be “red flags” of many forms of cancer, and should always be checked.
They include:
- Weight loss for no obvious reason.
- Pain that is persistent and unexplained, whether it be dull and consistent, or sharp and brief.
- Any lumps, bumps or swellings, such as in the neck, armpit, stomach, groin, chest, breast or testicle.
- Fatigue that makes you feel tired all the time and generally lacking in energy.
- Night sweats that are very heavy or a fever that can’t be explained.
- Changes to the skin, such as puckering on the breast, moles that have changed, very itchy or yellow skin.
- Unexplained bleeding from the bottom or vagina, or blood in urine, semen, stool, vomit or when coughing.
