Community / Bryan feels ‘lifted up’ as islanders dig deep to raise more than £150k in just 12 days
LOCAL man Bryan Peterson was temporarily “lost for words” when asked for his reaction to the community raising a staggering £151,000 to help him continue to access lifesaving brain tumour treatment.
Less than two weeks ago his sister Karen launched an ambitious GoFundMe page to help Bryan continue private care and cancer treatment in Germany.
Photo: SIC
With £100,000 raised in the first two days, Bryan’s fundraising page became for a time one of the most regularly watched webpages in the isles.
He described these last few days as an emotional roller-coaster to the extent that his election to become the islands’ council convener, last week, has not really sunk in – so far.
And reaching this total has changed something important: it has given him, his wife Karlin and the whole family relief and breathing space. It has made the next stretch of the journey feel possible.
In spring last year, the 49-year-old was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour called glioblastoma, one of the most challenging cancers that exist.
After surgery and six weeks of chemo and radio therapy, NHS Scotland could offer no further treatment – leading Bryan and Karlin to look elsewhere.
He has now almost completed the first phase of a private immunotherapy programme at a specialist clinic in Cologne, allowing him to – hopefully – soon embark on phase two of the treatment.
This will involve specialists developing a personalised vaccine, based on his genetic profile, to bolster his immune system.
If all goes well, this will be followed by phase three, perhaps in about a year’s time, when his progress will be monitored and any mutation and reappearance of the cancer should be picked up early.
Finding his words again, he said without the generosity of the 2,500 people who had given money, they would not have been able to commit to phase two of the treatment.
He said they had spent their life savings on the first phase and had been unsure whether they should continue treatment, risking a huge amount of debt on an uncertain outcome.
It was then that his sister stepped in and the fundraiser was the result.
He said: “We have tried many times to express how we feel, and each time we fail.
“Words aren’t adequate. Gratitude, relief, humbleness, hope – none of them fully describe it.
“The money itself is extraordinary, and the relief it brings is immense.
“But what moves me most is that behind each donation is a person – someone who could have spent that money on themselves, their family, a bill, a holiday, a takeaway, but instead chose to help us.”
He added: “I have rarely looked at the crowdfunder website – I find it to be too emotional, and it feels like everybody I meet gives me a thumbs up and tells me the total anyway.”
Reflecting on his treatment journey so far, he said the overwhelming sensation is the feeling of not being alone.
“On the morning of my surgery, it became the nearest thing I have ever had to a religious experience,” he recalled.
“I was alone in a changing room pulling on my gown. It was one of the few moments of real solitude in a busy hospital ward. And yet I did not feel alone.
“I knew that family, friends, neighbours, colleagues, and friends of friends I might never meet were thinking of me and willing me on.
“I was not fearful because I knew I was not entering the operating theatre by myself. I was physically alone but I was also in people’s thoughts. It gave me strength as I silently thanked un-named people for their support.
“Those feelings have stayed with me since, and I feel them now more than ever as I silently thank everyone who has contributed to the crowdfunder. Karlin and I have been in so many people’s thoughts, and we feel we have been lifted up.”
The GoFundMe page will stay open beyond reaching the target with any addition funds raised going towards Bryan treatment and the work of the Brain Tumour Research charity.
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