A father-of-three from the Wirral, Christopher Capstick, thought a lump on his back was an insect bite after returning from a holiday in Greece in 2022. The 41-year-old charity worker visited his GP multiple times over six months about the lump, which changed colour and size. He was initially reassured it was a cyst until it was removed. Within 48 hours, doctors confirmed it was melanoma, which has since become terminal after spreading to his brain.
Diagnosis and treatment
Christopher was diagnosed with stage four melanoma in March 2023. He underwent treatment and was briefly cancer-free at the start of 2025. However, just weeks before a planned family trip to Florida, he became seriously unwell. Scans revealed six tumours on his brain and another six elsewhere in his body. He was given a terminal diagnosis with 12 months to live. He is now back on monthly immunotherapy.
Christopher said: "My wife and I had just got married the year before, and I was sitting there with my pregnant wife being told that I have a 15% chance of surviving. It was just devastating."
Mental battle and family focus
Despite the prognosis, Christopher says the biggest battle is mental rather than physical. He said: "I'm quite positive, I don't feel like I'm dying. I have three young kids and that's a massive motivation for me. It's what drives me to get to a stage where all my kids remember who I am. It feels like more of a mental battle rather than a physical battle."
His daughters are Isabella, Mila, and Nylah. To help explain the situation to the children, six-year-old Isabella wrote a book titled Daddy's Little Monsters. Christopher said: "We couldn't find the words, and there was no guidance out there to discuss it with your kids. I said we needed a storybook, and my wife and Isabella ran with that. It doesn't mention cancer in the book, but it explains it in a way that kids can understand."
Fundraising for wider distribution
The book has received glowing reviews from other families. Christopher and his family are now fundraising to get Daddy's Little Monsters into every cancer centre, hospital, and Maggie's Centre.
