A NEW mum is fighting against the clock in her bid to raise thousands of pounds for pioneering medical treatment that could save her husband’s life.
Jarek Skorupska was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour in December last year after suffering months of agonising headaches.
The 40-year-old has a grade four glioblastoma multiforme tumour – the worst severity – and despite surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and taking part in a clinical trial the tumour continues to grow.
Wife Milena, who gave birth to the couple’s first daughter Laura just over four months ago, said: “We fear that she may not have a chance to grow up with her father by her side.
“I need to keep him alive as long as I can.”
Jarek, of Fletcher Way, Hemel Hempstead, underwent further surgery on Monday to remove some of the growing tumour.
“This is something that can buy us time,” said Milena, who works as a finance manager but is currently on maternity leave.
“Maybe a couple of months at the most and then this tumour will progress again so we have to look at other options.”
These include paying around £75,000 to be part of a vaccine trial, which is already running in America but will soon come to the UK.
The other options being explored are undergoing magnetic field therapy in India, which has a price tag of about £10,000, or visiting a specialist clinic in Houston, America, where treatment will cost in the region of £90,000.
So far the couple, who married in 2010 after meeting through the internet, have raised £3,100.
Of this almost £2,000 came from family and friends in Poland where they are originally from, and another £1,100 has been donated following pleas posted on social networking sites by Milena.
If you would like to find out more or make a donation to the cause, visit www.hopeforjarek.com