Dad from Sheffield issues desperate appeal to help secure life-saving liver transplant
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Chris Ansell, 35, who was born in Sheffield and spent many years in Rotherham, is trying to raise £150,000 to fund the operation he says is not available to him in the UK.
Nine years ago, Chris, who today lives in Halifax, was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis which is a rare form of inflammatory bowel disease, affecting one in 420 people in the UK. The condition is incurable and there is no real understanding around how you get it.
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Hide AdFor Chris, the disease has always been managed by medication but six months ago he fell unwell and started showing signs of jaundice. Since then, Chris has been in and out of hospital trying to find the cause.
Three weeks ago, he discovered he had bile duct cancer and needed chemotherapy quickly.
The cancer is currently contained and Chris is having an operation this week to reduce jaundice levels before moving on with the cancer treatment.
The issue Chris faces is because of NHS policy, he says, you cannot get a liver transplant in the UK if you are found to have cancer. Even if the cancer has been cured there is no way to get an operation for liver transplant anywhere in the UK.
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Hide AdThe NHS is trying to make changes but there is currently no alternative for Chris than to go elsewhere. The cancer does not make this operation more dangerous and it is not performed differently because of the cancer.
Chris said: “I’ve always paid my taxes here in the UK, I’ve never missed a payment and I’ve never been in debt but I am going to need to find the money for this treatment.”
Chris wants to use his story as a platform to help others and raise awareness about a situation many other people less fortunate than himself will be facing.
One option Chris is considering for his transplant is St Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin.
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Hide AdChris said: “This has been extremely tough on our family but I feel very fortunate to have such great people around and to have generated such a large amount of funding in such a short amount of time.”