Former soldier Paul Coleman, 38, is selling his home to fund private treatment for incurable brain cancer. He and his wife Michelle, 33, have put their house on the market and launched a fundraising page to pay for the drug Bevacizumab, which is not routinely available on the NHS.
Paul lost his hearing in one ear in 2012 and was diagnosed with a benign tumour, which was confirmed to have become cancerous in 2020. He underwent radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery, but has now been told the tumour has progressed to his brain stem — and further surgery is not an option.
Fighting for time
Michelle said: “I just want my husband back…we’re fighting for time. That’s all we’re asking for: time. He’s not ready to go. I’m not ready to lose him. Our family isn’t ready to lose him.”
She added: “We aren’t asking people to cure Paul. We aren’t asking people to fix something that can’t be fixed. We’re asking for a chance. A chance to try this treatment. A chance to fight. A chance to have more time together.”
Paul said his initial diagnosis was “a bit of a shock” as he had assumed the hearing loss was a result of his time in the army. The couple, from Geddington, Northamptonshire, bought their first house in 2015, but Paul was rejected for life insurance. He said: “It felt like they knew more than us on what was to come.”
Diagnosis and treatment
Confirmation that the tumour was cancerous was the “worst news possible”, Michelle said. She added: “They told us it was incurable, but it’s not the end of the game — he was looking at having quite a good lifestyle.”
Groundworker Paul underwent radiotherapy and chemotherapy before being told in 2021 he could expect to live for five to eight years. They moved into a new home and renovated it to make it wheelchair accessible, including fitting a downstairs bedroom and wet room.
Two years later, the tumour had grown and looked like it occupied around 25% of his brain and was now grade four, but further treatment and surgery kept it “at bay”. People with a grade four glioblastoma have a life expectancy of around 12 to 18 months with standard treatment, according to the Brain Tumour Charity.
Surgery and progression
Paul underwent brain surgery in 2022 in an attempt to remove as much of the tumour as possible. He said: “They removed all of it apart from a strip — they said if they took that bit out it would have affected me permanently and left me with brain damage.”
Michelle, who works as an accountant, added: “That would have been the hardest time for me, when Paul was in surgery, I basically cried solidly for 10 hours waiting for that phone call. We didn’t know if he’d come out of surgery, or if he’d be really disabled and unable to walk or swallow.”
In early 2026, doctors told Paul and Michelle the tumour had progressed to his brain stem. Further radiotherapy left him severely debilitated, vomiting and suffering from “piercing headaches”. He developed a tremor in his right hand, and the left side of his face started to droop. This summer, following a multidisciplinary team meeting, Paul and Michelle were told surgery was no longer an option.
Cost and fundraising
Doctors recommended Bevacizumab, which targets a protein on cancer cells called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which helps cancers grow blood vessels to get food and oxygen from the blood. Bevacizumab blocks this protein and stops the cancer from growing blood vessels, so it is starved and cannot grow. However, the treatment is not routinely available on the NHS, and Paul and Michelle said doctors told them he would need to have it privately.
They were told each treatment would cost £4,000, with four initial treatments needed. To help cover the cost, the couple set up a GoFundMe with a £20,000 target and have so far raised more than £15,800.
Michelle said: “It feels like I’m living through a panic attack on a permanent basis. It feels like a very American problem to have. The kindness from everyone has just been unreal and it’s taken a massive weight off our shoulders.”
The couple do not know how many treatments Paul will ultimately need and have put their house on the market to raise more funds. Michelle said: “All the money we’re paying for our mortgage could be going towards treatment if we downsize. It’s going to be so hard to give this house up — we’ve got friends down the road that come and help us, and we have a whole community here.”
Paul added: “I served in the army, I fought for my country, and I’ll fight this.”
