'We are not giving up' - Terminally ill father-of-three in race against time to fund specialist treatment
By Matthew Hancock-Bruce 2nd Dec 2025
A father-of-three is in a race against time to raise funds for a potentially life-saving treatment.
Adlington resident Michael Turner was recently given the devastating news that he has stage four terminal bowel cancer.
Having only been offered palliative chemotherapy by the NHS, 37-year-old Mike is now hoping to raise enough money to fund private treatment options.
His partner of 12 years Lucy Murphy said: "We are not giving up.
"We have been told by our surgeon that she believes Mike's cancer is resectable and that he is still young, fit, and strong enough to undergo and recover from major surgery.
"We need this for our girls to have their daddy, it's the worst part of this journey protecting them from this hell.
"He should be there to watch them grow, they need their daddy, I need their daddy."
Mike first began to sense that something wasn't right in September 2024, experiencing a range of symptoms including constipation, diarrhoea and rectal bleeding.
It wasn't until January, following countless tests, trips to the doctors and two sigmoidoscopies, that Mike was finally diagnosed with bowel cancer.
He underwent a bowel resection that same month, followed by six months of chemotherapy.
"Every two weeks, he pushed himself into what can only be described as hell, and it's something neither of us will ever forget," Lucy said.
Family friend Allicia Hitchener added: "They had great difficulty getting him diagnosed, they were back and forth at the doctors at the end of last year and visited Macclesfield A&E due to heavy blood loss and difficulty passing stools.
"His symptoms were disregarded as piles.
"It took another doctor at a later stage to take them seriously and moved forward with a colonoscopy, eventually finding the cancer."
Sadly, even before finishing chemotherapy, the cancer had returned and even more aggressively.
It was discovered the cancer had spread to the peritoneum, the thin membrane lining the abdomen.
As such, this would require a specialist procedure called hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), carried out inly by expert surgeons and not currently available through the NHS, Lucy says.
To help fund this privately, Lucy has set up a JustGiving page.
Within days, more than 230 supporters have donated over £7,500 towards Mike and Lucy's £69,000 target.
Allicia said: "They've had a really difficult year with many complications and now we're at a stage where the NHS will only offer palliative chemotherapy.
"They have engaged a private specialist in Wilmslow that specialises in this type of cancer, but we urgently need to fund this care."
You can donate via the JustGiving page here.
CHECK OUT OUR Jobs Section HERE!
macclesfield vacancies updated hourly!
Click here to see more: macclesfield jobs
Share:
