To help Scott battle terminal brain cancer and prolong his life, please donate to the GoFundme page here
A COSTA del Sol dad is raising funds for specialised treatment after his brain cancer cruelly returned just as he thought he had been given the all clear.
The experience of battling terminal brain cancer taught Scott Edwards Jimena, 46, to self-reflect and journey deep inside himself.
After doctors told him the disease was unlikely to come back in January, he almost immediately booked tickets to Thailand in January for several months of travelling with his family.
He he been given a second chance at life, and he wanted to seize it with both hands.
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Unfortunately, the brain cancer returned after just a few days into his big adventure.
Now Scott’s friends and family are desperately trying to raise €45,000 for specialised treatment in Germany that might just be able to prolong his life.
Born in Spain to a British parent, Scott briefly went to boarding school in the UK and now lives in Frigliana, Nerja with his British partner Racheal and their two young children, six and eight.
However, their idyllic life was turned upside down in May last year when he was received the devastating news that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of glioblastoma, a terminal brain cancer.
It hit his friends and especially his family just as hard, fearing now that they were going to lose both a husband and father.
Months of gruelling brain surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy followed, which impacted the children’s toy business Scott shared with Rachael.
Unable to work during this period, the company eventually went bankrupt, competitors filled the gap, and they were forced to sell it for a fraction of its value.
Several months of treatment had left Scott searching for answers beyond medicine.
In October of last year, he booked flights and escaped to South Asia, where he lived in an isolated jungle cabin for 15 days.
“I locked myself in the middle of a jungle in Bali after I did my radiotherapy and my chemotherapy,” Scott told The Olive Press.
“I said to my wife, ‘I’m going to figure out who I am, I need to find out who I am.’”
It was during this time Scott discovered the need to talk about past experiences of trauma that he had kept secret for much of his life – ‘remove the mask’, as he called it.
Doing what once seemed impossible, he opened up to family and friends about difficult experiences from his childhood – including being sexually abused at the age of 12, which led to a subsequent period of difficult teenage years.
“I started drugs, gambling, you know, all sorts of things in a very small Spanish town,” Scott said.
“What I learnt from the tumor is first how to stop resisting life and stop pretending. Since I’ve lived and done that, I found peace.
“I found love with myself. I’m proud of where I am, of what I’ve achieved, and what I’m working to.”
In mid February this year, things started to look up, as Scott’s surgeon told him he was in remission.
The family decided it was time. They packed their bags, and rented out their home to fund a six month trip to Thailand.
However, only four days into the trip, Scott had his first seizure.
These seizures would worsen over the following weeks, forcing Scott to return back to Spain after only a month of living in Thailand.
Now, back in Spain, Scott faces daily battles against a disease that has gradually taken away his mobility, energy levels, and the simple moments he once shared with his family.
“A few months ago, we could have a meal in the evenings,” says Scott’s sister, Syreeta.
“Now that is impossible… It’s every day. He can do less things, and he’s got this pain all the time.”
In the face of the aggressive cancer’s return, Scott’s family are holding on to a glimmer of hope – in the form of a personalised immunotherapy treatment in Germany.
Doctors cannot promise a cure, only that it may give him more time, which Sarita says is ‘all we want.’
Scott’s family and friends have launched a GoFundMe, with nearly 66% of the required goal already met, a response that Scott says ‘has been absolutely amazing.’
Alongside documenting his own journey on social media, Scott recently shared his story in an interview with motivational speaker Pete Cohen – who lost his wife to the same disease several years ago.
Through his story, Scott hopes to give others strength and show that life can still have purpose after a devastating diagnosis.
That sense of purpose has also inspired Scott to plan future visits to children’s hospitals, where he hopes to read stories to young patients and support their families.
“I’m not a motivational speaker,” he says. “I’m just someone with an incurable disease, and I don’t accept the prognosis”
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