Bo'ness dad Steven Fry aims to raise £50,000 for brain cancer treatment

The dad of one, who is originally from Bo’ness and is a former Deanburn Primary and Academy pupil, is, however, facing the fight of his life.

And he’s hoping readers will back his GoFund Me campaign to raise £50,000 for immunotherapy treatment – not available on the NHS – to help treat the brain cancer he was diagnosed with in May.

It’s been a tough few years for Steven and his wife Chloe; they met 10 years ago and moved from Bo’ness to Inverkeithing, where he worked as a bus driver.

Five years ago, the couple moved to Inverness to be closer to relatives there and Steven continued to work on the buses with Stagecoach.

The couple married in July 2019 and it looked like their lives would be made complete, with their first baby due in March 2022.

During lockdown, Steven retrained as an HGV driver; on September 16, 2021, he was on a training run when he suffered a seizure and his lorry crashed into an empty shop in Beauly.

Rushed to hospital, doctors discovered he had a brain tumour and if it had been left untreated, he would have died within months.

Surgery saw 40 per cent of the tumour cut out; however, it left Steven paralysed down his right side, impacting his speech and with doctors fearing he may never walk again.

Three months later, a determined Steven was back on his feet and well enough to return home – three days before Christmas 2021.

Steven and Chloe welcomed their baby girl Piper five weeks early, in January 2022, and the future was looking brighter.

However, in May this year, following a routine MRI scan, their world was turned upside down once again.

Steven (32) said: “The doctors told me via video conference that I had brain cancer.

“With radiotherapy and chemotherapy, they told me I could have 14 years but Piper will be just 15 or 16 at that point. I want to spend as much time with my family as I possibly can.”

Steven finished the radiotherapy treatment a few months ago and started his chemotherapy treatment on October 26. He’ll have to endure that every six weeks for the next ten months.

Every bit as determined as Steven, Chloe started exploring other treatments to see if there was another option that could extend his life.

What they discovered was an immunotherapy treatment which offered hope of a cure or, at the very least, a much longer life. Sadly, it’s not available on the NHS.

Undaunted, Chloe’s sister Hayley Anderson launched a GoFund Me campaign on November 5 in a bid to raise the necessary funds – in just over two weeks, almost £3500 has been raised.

Steven hopes that, by sharing his story, family and friends in Bo’ness and Linlithgow will rally to support him.

He said: “I’ve spoken to the doctors at the private clinic in London and they believe I will respond well to the immunotherapy treatment – I could live to a ripe old age.

“I just want to be there for my wife and daughter for as long as I possibly can be. I’ve not had the best of luck but I’m alive, I’m a fighter and I don’t plan to give up.”

To find out more or donate, visit www.gofundme.com/f/raise-funds-for-immunotherapy-treatment.