North Wales
Cancer, Daily living costs, Support for Freemasons and families
Leslie’s story
After going to the doctors for a routine blood test, Leslie quickly learned he had prostate cancer. He was told he would need to wait a year for an essential operation.
“Before being diagnosed, I knew there was something wrong so I decided to pay for an MRI scan privately,” says Leslie. “That’s when I knew I had prostate cancer. I then had a biopsy which I also paid for – this cost me a couple of grand, which fully confirmed my diagnosis, and then a bone marrow test to see how far the cancer had spread. Afterwards, I was told I would need an operation but would have had to wait until the next year to have it. Up until this point I hadn’t even thought about turning to the MCF to cover the cost.”
“Just after my bone marrow test, I was speaking to my lodge about my situation and they mentioned the MCF’s support. I had heard bits and pieces about the MCF but had never really taken it in, so they gave me some MCF leaflets so I could find out a bit more. I chatted to my lodge Almoner and it went from there! He visited me at home a few times to help me with my application forms, which was really helpful and I was eventually told that the MCF would cover the operation.”
I was told I would need to wait until February 2017 for the operation if I waited on the NHS, but I actually had my operation in November 2016 because of the MCF, so altogether, it got done a lot quicker. As soon as the word cancer is mentioned, your whole world turns upside down, so who knows what would have happened if I had had to wait. The MCF’s grant literally saved my life. I’m just so lucky I caught mine early.
