Nico Namavar’s Medical costs

Dear All,

Our Dear friend and colleague Nicolo Namavar, son of Dario of Dario Yacht Painters fame has a brain tumour that needs urgent medical attention. Nicolo was treated for a tumour over a year ago and has been on chemotherapy for the last year to kill off the remaining cancerous cells. However 2 weeks ago Nico started to feel ill again and saw his Oncologist at the hospital in San Remo. A MRI scan detected that he has had a recurrence of the cancer and now has 2 tumours on the brain. These tumours are known as Cerebal Glibastoma (Google it) and are a very aggressive type of cancer. This type of cancer is treatable but not at all hospitals in Italy and requires specialist treatment and care at a major hospital in Milan, Rome or in Germany.

Currently Nico is on a stronger type of Chemotherapy administered by injection to try and reduce the spread of the tumour and to kill off the cancerous cells. He has been on this therapy for the last 2 weeks and will continue for another week before being on a rest period off Chemo for a further 3 weeks. After the 3 weeks rest another scan will be done to see if the spread of cancerous cells has stopped/ slowed enough for an operation to remove the tumours if possible.

In addition to the Chemo which is provided by the Italian state, Imunotherapy is being given to Nico every 2 weeks which is another type of therapy that hopefully can reduce the spread of the cancer. This immunotherapy costs 4900 Euros per session and is being paid privately by Dario.

We all know Dario and his 3 sons, Nicolo, Nadar and Nema well enough to know that they are the most generous, friendly and caring family that you could meet and will do anything to help you out. Whether this is work related, such as repairing that chip or scratch on the yacht 2 hours before the boss arrives or giving you a lift to town or advice on where to go out, they're always there for you.

Nicolo is a very good friend of mine and I have known him since he was 17 years old. Over the last 14 years he has become like a younger brother to me along with his other 2 brothers and Dario a firm friend.

So why am I here telling you all this? We all know Nicolo and Dario are the first people to pay for the coffees or buy a round for everyone at the bar, but what we are talking about here is REAL MONEY to pay for a possible life or death situation. Dario will sell everything and anything to help pay for his sons medication, but we as friends who are lucky enough to be in a position to help share the financial burden SHOULD help. The Italian state do not have the finances after the CV19 virus to support all cancer cases and unfortunately the Imperia region San Remo is in cannot fund the costs of specialist treatment that Nico needs. If in 3-4 weeks the Doctors say that there is enough regression to operate on the tumours then it will have to be done privately. Exact costs are still to be reconciled once they know the extent of the operation but estimates are 50-70000 Euros in addition to the expenses that are already being absorbed by the family.

So if you can help please do. As yachtie's we can all spend 50-100Euros in the bar a couple of times a week without thought, so maybe we can all spare a thought for Nico, skip a night at the bar and donate ANYTHING to help pay for treatment and to make his life better.

I am not the sort of person myself to ever ask people for money and doing this now feels kinda strange, but I want to make sure that our friend gets the best help he can so we can see him laughing and messing about on the dock in the future.

Thank you for your time in reading this and if you can help please do.

Please note that this campaign has been approved by the Namavar Family. It is a very difficult period for them all at the moment, so please respect their privacy and leave your comments and Best Wishes for them when you donate as they will see these directly.

Many thanks

Phil Parker- Larkin