Dad, 36, with 'body of 21-year-old athlete' gets shock diagnosis after feeling numbness in his fingers

Jack Carpenter has defiantly said he will 'crush' his five-year prognosis

A young, athletic father who was diagnosed with incurable brain cancer after experiencing numbness in his fingers has defiantly vowed to "crush" his five-year prognosis through health kicks.

Jack Carpenter, a 36 year old personal trainer from Felixstowe, East Suffolk, began noticing strange sensations in his fingertips in June this year and found that his brain was unable to process certain commands – sometimes leaving him unable to switch off the car or pick up a pen.

After undergoing a CT scan two months later, he and his wife Emily, also 36, were informed by doctors that they had discovered three tumours in his brain. The shock of the news was so severe that Jack fainted in his chair.

In September, he was diagnosed with grade three astrocytoma, an aggressive, incurable form of brain cancer with a prognosis of between three and five years. He will commence a course of radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment from October 21 in hopes of improving his prognosis and shrinking his tumours.

Jack, who owns an obstacle course racing training facility called Field Fit, was told by doctors that he has the physique of a 21 year old athlete due to his previous fitness regime. However, he is now embarking on a series of health kicks in an attempt to ensure he can be there for his two daughters, Margot, three, and Elodie, one.

"I have come to the realisation that this will eventually get me but I’m not letting anyone tell me I have two years, five years, one year," Jack, whose family have started a GoFundMe page to support him, told PA Real Life. "It’s sad and obviously you do cry, you think about your children, but I’m not feeling sad anymore as my immediate attention has turned to proving people wrong. They don’t know me, they don’t know my level of fitness, they don’t know the strength I’m taking to do everything I can to crush those five years."

Emily, who works as a professional fundraiser at Mind, expressed the immense emotional toll the situation has taken on her, especially after having lost her own mother to cancer just a week before she turned 21. "This obviously just flashes me back to that time and there’s lots of emotion with that," she explained, adding, "For me, it’s a different hard to how Jack is finding it because I’m having to deal with the emotions of my children and my own emotions."

In narrating his ordeal, Jack disclosed he first noticed a strange numbness in his fingers and felt his brain was failing to carry out certain commands effectively. Describing his symptoms, he said, "I’d go to turn the engine off in my car and my brain would freeze, so I know what I wanted to do but my left finger wouldn’t push the button," and noted, "Even simple things like picking up a pen, I would miss the pen to pick it up."

Jack underwent a series of tests at his GP surgery, including checks on his eyesight and balance. Despite no major issues being found, doctors initially suspected a trapped nerve.

However, Jack's local hospital in Ipswich recommended a routine CT scan to rule out any other potential problems. The scan, conducted on August 27, revealed three tumours in his brain.

"Jack went into complete shock, he passed out in the chair," said Emily. He was then referred to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge where a biopsy was performed on one of the tumours on September 4.

On September 10, Jack was diagnosed with a grade three astrocytoma. Since then, he has been taking steroids to reduce brain swelling and will begin radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment at Ipswich Hospital from October 21.

"A lot of my sadness is sadness for Margot and Elodie – they’re desperate for normality and it’s hard for us to give them that right now," Emily shared. "I’m a mum and I’m trying to protect my two girls from this."

Jack, who spent eight years as a personal trainer and athlete, has questioned "why me? ". "My doctor told me that from the neck down, I’m a 21 year old fully-fledged athlete," he said.

"Sometimes I lay in bed and think, ‘why me? What have I done to deserve this? ’, but it’s nothing I’ve done that has caused this. I’m just that 1%, a very unlucky person that whatever’s caused this is possibly a DNA snip gone wrong somewhere."

Jack revealed he's been battling fatigue after any physical activity, which he finds hard to explain to his young daughter Margot. "There’s lots of cancer factors right now and it’s learning everyday what’s the best thing to do," he said.

"But how do I explain to my daughter that I don’t want to do jigsaws with her because I’m so tired? " Emily shared that their eldest daughter’s superpower is her "emotional intelligence", saying: "She’s so in tune with us and any little waver of negativity in the house, she latches onto it straight away. She knows daddy’s head is poorly but it’s really hard."

Jack has since embarked on a series of health initiatives, such as adopting a ketogenic diet, which involves eliminating sugars and hormones and consuming organic fruits, vegetables and grass-fed meats, and placing cheese plants around their home to enhance the oxygen levels in their environment. "If you can feed your body with really good, healthy fats, you’re getting all that goodness up to the brain, which hopefully should help," he said.

The family have also launched a GoFundMe page to assist with the daily costs of Jack’s treatment.

They've managed to raise over £6,000 thus far, and while they're grateful for the financial support, they've also suggested that those who can't donate could still offer help by keeping Jack company during his hospital visits or by walking their dog. "It makes you realise how amazing people are, it makes me well up to see people donating," Jack expressed.

Echoing his sentiments, Emily, who works in charity herself, said: "I’m constantly blown away by people’s generosity but when it’s happening to you, it’s so humbling." For more information or to contribute, please visit the family's fundraising page at gofundme.com/f/j-crushing-cancer.

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