Brother and sister host charity golf day for Good Hope

Geoff Freeman was diagnosed with a peritoneal tumour, a rare form of cancer that develops in a thin layer of tissue in the abdomen, in 2016 and after extensive treatment and surgery hosted a charity golf day to raise money for the hospital that treated him.

The charity golf day was organised by Geoff’s sister, Alison Clark, who works at Good Hope Hospital, and was held at Atherstone Golf Club, where Geoff is the Club President. In total, 39 teams took part including family, friends and hospital staff!

With club members, family, friends and hospital staff getting involved, they raised an incredible £2,050 for the team who treated Geoff for his peritoneal tumour.

Talking about the treatment he received, Geoff said: “It all started off three years ago when I found out I had a tumour in my colon. I had it removed by Mr Youssef and then I had to have six months of chemotherapy which ran into 2017.

“I had surgery this year to clean out the cancer and then had to spent a night in intensive care and then ten days on a ward. I was looked after really well at the hospital and the stoma nurses made sure everything were really good with my new stoma bag.”

After finishing the six months of chemotherapy, Geoff had a scan to see if his tumour had gone and was unfortunately told that the tumour had returned so he had to have another six months of treatment.

Six months after finishing the second lot of treatment, Mr Youssef said he could do cytoreductive surgery which involved cleaning as much of the cancer out as possible followed by a hot chemotherapy ‘bath’ which washes organs during surgery to make sure all visible signs of the cancer have been taken out.

Geoff received this surgery just over two months ago and is already back on his feet and so thankful to Mr Youssef and all of the staff that have treated him over the three years.

Mr Haney Youssef, Specialist Colorectal and General Surgeon at Good Hope Hospital, said: “We’re so grateful for the fantastic contribution made by Alison, Geoff and all of the people who supported the golfing day. The money raised will go towards the purchasing of equipment and training of staff to support our Cytoreductive surgery.

“We set this service up in 2012 and have treated hundreds of patients across the country. We’re very proud of the service and it’s one of the three units in the country treating patients with peritoneal malignancy.”

To find out more about Good Hope Hospital Charity and what you can do to help us raise money like this, please click here.

Pictured: Geoff Freeman, Mr Haney Youssef, Alison Clark