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“The Dan Sheppard Cup”. Sydney, Friday 10^th June.

In an amazing show of strong love and sublime support, Australia’s advertising technology community came together last Friday for the inaugural “Dan Sheppard Cup” fundraiser, held at Wentworth Park footie ground in the Sydney suburb of Glebe. Led by Dan’s employer Xpand, friends and colleagues formed a league of soccer teams including some of the world’s most recognisable online brands.

Watched and cheered by hundreds of spectators under stunning Sydney autumn sunshine, the slightly out of shape teams provided excellent entertainment throughout the afternoon as we progressed towards the Grand Final... which featured Yahoo7 and eBay, the latter emerging victorious.

The final fundraising tally isn’t in yet, but we’re looking in the tens of thousands... and judging by the noise we all made, both at the ground and later in the pub all wearing our #dansnotdoneyet t-shirts and wristbands, some great awareness work was done too.

On a pain scale of 1 to 10 our man Dan was on 8 that day, but he was there from start to finish, loved every second and went home with a big smile on his face (carrying a framed signed t-shirt from his beloved UK soccer team, Arsenal). He’s since described it as one of the “best moments of my life” and he sends thanks to all involved from the bottom of his heart.

The ups & downs of fighting stage 4 cancer.

Since the last update our man has found out that the prescribed medical treatment required for his condition involves even more chemotherapy and operations than at first thought. Should he choose to go down that path, the next two to three years of his life will look like this: aggressive chemo, liver operation, aggressive chemo, bowel operation, more aggressive chemo.

What’s more he’s been told he has a nasty cancer causing gene, so when he kicks it away, they’ll be an ever present chance of it coming back... and this will require ongoing radiation treatment to keep it at bay.

But there’s brighter news in his most recent blood work. After nearly a month of his super food diet – a double strict, wholly natural alkaline based program, lovingly researched and prepared by his life-giving girlfriend Jen – one of the main “tumour marker” blood results has shown a massive improvement. His immune system is in a state of stabilisation, which means his body is regenerating and now focused on fighting the cancer, instead of other toxins in his body.

Specialists have described the huge reduction as something they “would only expect to see after chemotherapy”, which is promising to say the very least. Who knows, maybe our man is onto something!

Stay tuned. There are some big decisions for Dan to make over the next few weeks. In the meantime, the search for effective alternative therapies and ambitious oncologists continues.

Bowel cancer among the under-50s is on a massive rise. Share this and get checked!

(to share the main campaign page or donate, go here)

#dansnotdoneyet