CLEAR EYES & FULL HEARTS CAN ’ T LOSE ! – AN INSPIRATIONAL JOURNEY WITH TERMINAL BOWEL CANCER
In January 2019 , aged just 37 years old Danny de Brabander was diagnosed with terminal Bowel Cancer .
His journey over the past 4 years with Bowel Cancer has been eventful to say the least with him having 4 major surgeries ( with many organs removed including 75 % of his liver , spleen and belly button ). Danny has battled life threatening SEPSIS following a bowel perforation , and his family were told to say goodbyes , with his organs shutting down . Thankfully Danny pulled through but had to learn to walk again , and dropped to nearly 8 stone in weight . Danny has also had major heart issues caused by chemotherapy including blood clots , and most recently a blocked bowel which led him to having 50cm of his small bowel removed . Danny has a permanent Ileostomy stoma . Amazingly he has also undergone 50 cycles of chemotherapy at the Christie Hospital in Manchester .
Danny has been told his cancer is terminal , and has been written off on a number occasions being told he only has ‘ months left to live ’. This said his recent scans are showing ‘ No Cancer visible ’ and his bloods are in normal range .
Turning his negatives into positives , Danny together with friends , Ben Douglas , Ben Lavell and Will Davenport , started fundraising charity # TeamDDB which has now raised over £ 110,000 for other local charities and the local community through events and fundraising .
In addition to the amount of money raised , # TeamDDB have completed over 50 random acts of kindness for local people who have faced life challenges with the aim to make them smile . The charity achieve this by paying for days out or treats .
The community spirit behind # TeamDDB is staggering and very humbling with so many people fundraising to help make a difference . They have sold over 600 T-shirts and hoodies and received amazing support from well known celebrities such as Sir Alex Ferguson , Liam Gallagher , Stephen Graham , Kym Marsh , Matt Lucas and many others .
Danny ’ s main focus and one that he is really passionate about is raising awareness of Bowel Cancer , so at least one person doesn ’ t have to go through what he has . Early diagnosis means Bowel Cancer is successfully treated in over 90 % of cases , where if you are Stage 4 you only have a 1 in 8 chance of living past 5 years . This awareness is also critical as Bowel Cancer is on the rise in younger people and in the last few months alone Danny has lost three close friends to Bowel Cancer ( all under the age of 40 ) who he met on his journey . Quite simply heart-breaking .
Here are the Bowel Cancer Symptoms to be aware of :
• Bleeding from your bottom and / or blood in stool
• A persistent and unexplained change in toilet habits
• Unexplained weight loss
• Extreme tiredness for no obvious reason
• A pain or lump in your tummy
As well as awareness , Danny believes in a positive mindset which has been an integral part of his journey and dealing with a terminal diagnosis . Danny firmly believes there are things in life that we can ’ t control but we can control the way in which we respond to them . He also follows the advice given to him by his late friend Kelly Smith that 96 % of what you worry about doesn ’ t actually happen . So live day by day and focus on what ' s in front of you . This mindset has led him to keynote speaking for businesses across the country .
Danny ’ s and # TeamDDB ’ s journey has given so many others hope , and posts on LinkedIn / Social media have gone out to thousands of people .
You can follow Danny ’ s journey on social media (@ debrabs20 ) and # TeamDDB ’ s community work (@ team . ddb ) or you can visit their website www . teamddb . co . uk
Danny has recently been on the news , and this gives a good summary about his journey - https :// youtu . be / aacBfQ5nF0Y
8 wirrallife . com