Big Leigh Vs The Big C

Big Leigh Vs The Big C Diagnosed with terminal stage 4 oesophageal cancer in December 2022 this is my healing journey.

18/08/2025

The Post We Also Never Wanted To Write

We are heartbroken to let everyone know that Leigh passed away today, with his family by his side and surrounded by so much love.

He fought so bravely and defied expectations right to the very end.

Leigh appreciated all the love and support he received from you all, and hoped you would remember him as a positive influence on your lives.

We are also so grateful for all the love and support we have received through this. So thank you.

Jess & Anne

Funeral arrangements will be posted here.

THE POST I NEVER WANTED TO WRITE 😢I’m currently in hospital and medically it’s fair to say it looks pretty bad. I came i...
09/08/2025

THE POST I NEVER WANTED TO WRITE 😢

I’m currently in hospital and medically it’s fair to say it looks pretty bad.

I came in on Wednesday and immediately was unconscious and in a bad way.

I did wake up from that but with about 20 people in my room because the crash cart team had been called.

Basically my kidneys are failing and the doctors have run out of treatment options. Fundamentally no further life saving treatment is being attempted.

At this point I have had to come to some acceptance around the outcome of my cancer journey.

This doesn’t mean I am giving up fighting but it does mean I am being realistic about my chances of surviving much longer. The doctors gave me a couple of days four days ago so I am kind of already on borrowed time.

The water retention on my legs is now pretty bad and as soon as that moves to my chest I am pretty fu**ed.

However, I feel at peace. I have had the opportunity to say goodbye to some of the most special people in my life, and am spending my time with family and friends.

I can honestly say the responses and support I have received through this blog have been truly humbling and I want to thank you all for reading and commenting.

This will probably be my final post so I am including some pictures that make me smile.

They are slightly random!
All my love and prayers to you all.
Leigh

And the rollercoaster 🎢 continuesThis time a more positive post as we’ve definitely improved 👌After a real low last Thur...
05/08/2025

And the rollercoaster 🎢 continues

This time a more positive post as we’ve definitely improved 👌

After a real low last Thursday each day has been progressively better pain wise.

No district nurse calls for additional pain relief since Thursday ✔️

Been moving better and able to play a few frames of pool ✔️

I’m still having a lot of trouble swallowing though ❎

Basically any food outside of yogurt, creamy stuff, meal replacement shakes etc tends to get stuck now, and that causes me to vomit 🤮

Even too much water or other liquid can do the same 🙁

But generally I’ve felt better
in myself, the swallowing could be down to a number of causes so I’m trying not to worry about it too much and just focusing on getting my calories in whatever format I can 🤷🏻

I feel like the reduction in pain along with some great sleep is also positive.
I’m still not hitting all the alternative healing modalities but I’m doing what I can so been hitting the sauna, soooky2, molecular hydrogen and ozone machines fairly frequently 👌

Yesterday was reflexology and today was dry needling (sorry in advance for the picture of my ass crack 🤣🙈)

I have also been doing some grounding most days, along with meditation 🙏🏼 and mistletoe injections 💉

02/08/2025

And we come crashing back to earth 🌍

After two of the most positive posts I’ve been able to make this year unfortunately this one is one of the least positive.

Was going fine till Wednesday, even played a pool tournament on Tuesday night but then Wednesday started to really hurt.

Got through to Thursday but the pain was too much at that point and I had the district nurses out three times for additional pain relief 🙁

Mentally this was one of the toughest days I’ve had as it was such a low from such a good high the previous week 🤷🏻

The pain is a crippling, shooting one through my back and sides, makes walking pretty hard and has limited me to the bed and recliner chair 🪑

I’ve learned by this time that trying to diagnose the cause of these issues is pointless, anything could be causing this, it could be the cancer spreading more out or could be dead cancer cells leaving the body 🤷🏻

Friday has been slightly better than Thursday though so I’m hoping we are through the worst of it.

There was always going to be good days and bad days on this journey, let’s hope we are about to embark on some good ones 😀

Momentum is so important in fighting cancer 👌When you feel constantly fatigued, or your getting nauseous all day or just...
27/07/2025

Momentum is so important in fighting cancer 👌

When you feel constantly fatigued, or your getting nauseous all day or just generally feeling run down and under the weather all the time it makes it really hard to do all the things we need to do

But when you are pain free and feeling good it’s much easier to stay on top of all the supplements and meds, to do ozone, sauna and hydrogen inhalation etc

I do have momentum at the moment. Next week I have dry needling, reiki, reflexology, lymphatic massage and a couple of high dose vit c infusions already booked in 👌

Just need to be consistent with these things now on the back of a great week at Centre Parcs ❤️

Make the most of this upward trend 😀

Not gonna lie, I have no idea what is going on 🤷🏻Since leaving hospital last Friday I’ve been virtually pain freeWe thou...
22/07/2025

Not gonna lie, I have no idea what is going on 🤷🏻

Since leaving hospital last Friday I’ve been virtually pain free

We thought that being more active at Centre Parcs would cause me all sorts of issues 💀

BUT

I’ve been swimming, playing badminton and short tennis, walking way more and doing crazy golf, all things that a week ago would have crippled me (pictures for proof below 🤣)

Yet, I’ve not only been pain free 👌 I’m also feeling better than I have done all year 👌👌😀

Granted, as per my last post I’m on enough pain meds to fell a baby elephant 💊

But I’ve been on this amount of medication for months and still needed additional top up relief

However, since Friday I’ve needed zero additional relief from the district nurses 🤩

That’s a big reduction (the district nurses were coming out at least twice a day before this week)!!

Who am I to question it though, I’m just taking the win and crossing my fingers 🤞 it continues

We are having a great week, whilst Centre Parcs is expensive I personally think it’s value for money because of the quality of the place

Being surrounded by my amazing family and partner I’m sure has helped, but something else must be going on to elicit this amount of change 🤷🏻

Maybe finally the combo of chemo and my alternative strategies have kicked in 💪

3 months back I was told I probably had 3 months to live, right now I feel like I will be here for years, many many years

All in all we are doing great, looking forward to a brilliant finish to our trip 😊

It’s a full time job managing the meds needed to fight cancer 🙈This is everything we are currently taking, half of it is...
20/07/2025

It’s a full time job managing the meds needed to fight cancer 🙈

This is everything we are currently taking, half of it is to address the pain as the cancer growth is in an area of my back that apparently has a lot of nerves 🙄

The other half are the natural supplements I also take (not pictured is the repurposed prescription meds I take eg metformin)

Keeping on top of ordering them before running out and dishing it out 4 times a day genuinely takes hours.

But that’s a fair exchange to buy me more time in my opinion 🤷🏻

Was told I probably had 3 months to live around 3 months ago, well true to form I’m not living up to that expectation 🤣

Now I’m back home and off the syringe drivers I’ve been really focused on getting back on the alternative healing

The sauna, molecular hydrogen and ozone machine have all been getting used 👌

I also made time to get outside barefooted on some wet grass (prompted by a post from The Temple of Sounds Cheshire-Sound Baths & Wellbeing) to get the full benefits of grounding

Off to Centre Parcs in the morning and looking forward to some amazing family time 😀

Actually feeling better over the past few days than I have done all year so feeling really positive that what we are doing is having beneficial effects and the cancer is being pushed back 💪

Also hopeful the ‘very large’ blood clot has been reduced by the daily blood thinning injections as I’ve been less breathless lately

Onwards and upwards baby 👍

Been a while since I last updated but I’m still doing okActually been in hospital since Monday as they switched my medic...
18/07/2025

Been a while since I last updated but I’m still doing ok

Actually been in hospital since Monday as they switched my medication from the syringe drivers to oral medication

This was mainly due to a trip to centre parcs we have planned for next week, having the syringe driver would have limited what I could do there but it was also limiting me at home in terms of being able to use my hbot chamber, sauna, pool table etc so switching to pure oral meds should give me a better quality of life

Because of the quantity and complex nature of what I take (ketamine is the main issue, I’ve been on it for a few months and the oral version takes a while to dial in) it needed a week in hospital to sort (I take a ridiculous amount of drugs now, I am really hoping the chemo works and we can reduce what I’m taking soon).

It’s gone ok, I’ve had some bad nausea and I’m still struggling with the pain at points in the day but generally I’m doing ok 👌

I have a lot of gratitude this week, my mum and Jessica staying with me and generally looking after me, the private healthcare I get (the difference to the nhs is ridiculous, the private ward at the Christie is top notch) and the messages of support from friends are all things I’m so grateful for ❤️

I’ve not been on my phone much this week so apologies to anyone I’ve not responded to yet 🙈

We will be back home tonight and then next week can’t wait to get to centre parcs with the kids 😀

Generally it’s going well……..First week on the new chemo and hard to say there have been any side effects at all 👌I am s...
08/07/2025

Generally it’s going well……..

First week on the new chemo and hard to say there have been any side effects at all 👌

I am still struggling badly with back pain, using alot of pain medication to manage it at the moment with District nurses coming out a couple of times a day to administer pain relief.

However, if this chemo is working then the cancer should be getting pushed back and a reduction in the cancer should allow for a reduction in pain medication 💊 that’s the plan anyway 🤣

Also pushing on with the alternative healing adding In reflexology and dry needling this week 🦶 💉

Lynn at The Therapy Hut was great and I definitely felt more relaxed after the session

So in summary the pain isn’t getting worse and we are pushing the alternative healing stuff more and more which can only be beneficial 👌

Mentally I continue to be up and down, the fear of death is a continual burden and I’m using relaxation and meditation techniques to try and manage that.

My believe remains strong that I can beat this and I do still trust that everything we are doing will work - it’s just hard to keep that mentality Day in day out after this long, but we will keep fighting because we don’t accept the alternative 💪

Cancer journeys don’t appear to be straight forward 🙈So we were doing ok, and in the whole scheme of things we could def...
03/07/2025

Cancer journeys don’t appear to be straight forward 🙈

So we were doing ok, and in the whole scheme of things we could definitely be doing worse.

So this isn’t a negative post but we have been struggling with breakthrough pain over the past few days

District nurses are awesome ⭐️ they have been out to administer additional pain relief and that’s worked well but obviously the aim is that we aren’t in pain during normal daily activity 🤷🏻

But, we have just started a new chemo 👌 which I’m excited for as this has the capacity to push the cancer back and that in turn could massively reduce the back pain and get me off all these medications.

We aren’t just relying on chemo of course. We start high dose vit c and sub q mistletoe injections today - both should make the chemo more effective

We are marinating the alternative healing protocol best we can, hitting sauna, ozone, juicing, off label meds and molecular hydrogen frequently.

Was lovely to get to see Caroline PEMFiT yesterday, I had a Bowen session (lots of possible benefits for my back) and was great to spend time with a top friend

Jessica and my mum play a huge part in my recovery and wellness journey and I think one of the biggest parts of my survival is just how stress free my life is now

Just having people in my life who help me organise the meds, do the actual juicing, remind me to meditate, ozone etc etc is soo beneficial

I have massive sympathy for those who have to go through this alone,

Summary for this post is that whilst there are issues we haven’t lost so the positivity from a week ago.

Lots going on and lots of possible good outcomes to look forward to 😊

Generally doing ok 👌Last few days have followed a similar pattern, generally it’s been going ok.Highlight was a visit to...
29/06/2025

Generally doing ok 👌

Last few days have followed a similar pattern, generally it’s been going ok.

Highlight was a visit to a Buddhist temple on Friday. Did a guided meditation and had a bite to eat there. The Temple was beautiful and grounds looked lovely soo well worth the trip up ❤️

Jessica has been helping me keep consistent with my off label medications and we’ve nailed the sauna and ozone machine especially over the last few days.

Spent some time with my girls at Starbucks yesterday having a nice catch up over a Frappuccino ☕️

Managed to get my weight back up a few kilos, which is positive coming into chemo as that can quickly strip weight back off 🙈

Pain is largely managed, I’m still finding some problematic spells overnight with pain keeping me up from 5am onwards on occasions 🤷🏻

But on the whole I’m eating well, hitting plenty of my alternative healing protocol, starting new chemos and vit c plus mistletoe soo lots to be positive about and lots of reasons to believe this cancer will be pushed back.

Ultimately I believe that where the mind goes the body will follow so I’m trying to focus on visualised healing and really nailing down this belief that I’m can beat this 💪

I know that soo much of that is coming from my incredible support network, the messages and visits all help me believe I can do it 💪

Even had an amazing little care package this week from Megan at Daleys Cleans (if you need a cleaner I 💯 recommend Meg btw). Various wax melts for specific chakras and some incense diffusers etc was lovely to get and adds more to our wellness space at home.

Feels like the momentum is in the right direction and we’ll keep trying to follow that path 💪👌

Down but not out……..Definitely feel like a boxer who’s been on the canvas lately, taken some blows and i think I’ve been...
25/06/2025

Down but not out……..

Definitely feel like a boxer who’s been on the canvas lately, taken some blows and i think I’ve been honest that mentally it’s been tough.

But today feels like a fight back

My oncologist is starting me on a new chemo next Tuesday, IF i respond to that treatment it could push the cancer right back

We also talked about options if that chemo doesn’t work and for the first time some other possibilities were discussed 💊

Ive taken heart in knowing that medically they aren’t giving up on me just yet 👌

I’ve managed to totally stabilise my weight and my pain is being well controlled through the syringe drivers (albeit they are somewhat cumbersome to carry around they do seem to be working)

Another positive was some blood results that showed i have a BRCA 2 mutation in my cancer. This is a mutation that is an area of interest for some clinical trials and I’m now on the list so when a new trial opens up targeting that mutation i should be right in the mix to be involved 💪👍

Monday saw a visit from one of my oldest friends Rob Mulcrone, we were best mates from primary school and really appreciated him making the long drive up from Essex ❤️

To continue the boxing analogy, I’ve made it back to the corner following an 8 count and whilst we definitively aren’t favourites to win yet I feel like my head has cleared from the last barrage and we are coming out for this round with a game plan.

Jessica and my mum continue to be absolute rocks in my corner, helping me to keep positive and focus on the things I can do to heal myself.

The messages of support and visits from friends locally, Emily, Phil, ste, James, Alan, Matt, etc etc still mean the world to me and without my support network I would have been out for the count ages ago ❤️

Whilst the bulk of my protocol for alternative healing remains similar we are tweaking things. Currently doing a parasite cleanse as suggested by Emily with the addition of a binder as suggested by Claire Soulful.Wispa so high hopes for that.

Also about to look properly at adding methalyne blue into the protocol.

To try and get the most from the chemo it’s likely we’ll be doing some high dose vit c alongside mistletoe and/or artimisimin 👌

Really just throwing everything at this, we are in the later rounds but we are coming out swinging baby 💪💪

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