Football-loving cancer patient’s relapse means fight to raise £500k to survive

A football-loving 26-year-old battling lymphoma has been told he must find and fund treatment abroad or face potentially having just months to live.

Ryan Renton lives in Berwick-upon-Tweed but is receiving treatment in Newcastle.

The 120 mile round trip is the closest location Ryan can receive the help he needs.

Earlier this year Ryan's stage four lymphoma relapsed and his family were told that, besides some chemotherapy to buy them some time, there was no further help available anywhere in the NHS or the UK.

As a result, the family is having to research potential treatments abroad and find a way to stomach the bills that come with them.

Ryan's girlfriend Beth Drummond told NewcastleWorld about the family's battle.

She said: "In himself, you wouldn't think there's anything wrong with him. He's being so positive.

"He's been told it could be the last few months of his life if we don't find something else, he's just inspirational.

"He's the one that's keeping us going through the fact that he's so positive."

Beth says that Ryan is "right into football", but had to stop playing when treatment started.

She added: "He's not played football in years.

"His team was Tweedmouth Amateurs. They've supported us a lot, they did a fundraiser for charity and raised £5,000 for the Freeman Hospital."

Ryan is currently receiving chemotherapy in Newcastle to help control the cancer and buy the family some more time.

Potential options include the USA, Spain and Israel, but they all come at an astronomical cost.

Beth said: "I've been in contact with doctors from the hospital in America, it's called the National Institute for Health, we're sending medical forms off to them so Ryan will be screened to find out what he's eligible for.

"Then it's the same in Spain and Israel as well.

"We're looking at all options available whether it be a clinical trial or something we have to pay for.

"At the moment it's looking like we'll have to pay for it, there's a really tough criteria you have to make to be eligible for a clinical trial and at the moment Ryan doesn't meet that criteria."

Beth has launched a GoFundMe page to try and garner support for the cause and help with any potential treatment.

Within seven days the page had already raised £40,000 for the family's cause with the North East community rallying around.

There's still a long way to go to the £500,000 target, which might or might not even cover the final price.

Beth said: "Somebody in America had a bill for $3 million.

"It was just a rough guess on the fundraiser, it may well cost more than that, we just don't know yet. It's best to start now so, if something comes up, we can be proactive and go.

"I've not got the words to describe how thankful we are for it. It's been so overwhelming."

You can donate to the fundraiser on GoFundMe here.