Man, 29, with terminal brain tumour denied cannabis prescription that family claims is ‘his only hope’ in race to save him George Gannon woke up unable to walk or talk – two years after fighting skin cancer

When George Gannon became aware of a spate of dog poisonings where he was living in Thailand, he couldn’t stand by and do nothing.

The animal loving Briton and his Canadian girlfriend Natalie Hobbs gave the strays a home, by setting up a small make shift rescue centre in their yard with seven dogs. He also managed to re-home several puppies.

It was likely because of his ‘big-hearted’ nature that friends and family – and i readers – dug deep and raised £25,000 for the popular entrepreneur when he was stranded in the Asian country after waking up unable to walk or talk last September.

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Diagnosed with a brain tumour aged just 29, Thai doctors made him stable, but they couldn’t provide the treatment he needed so his family made a desperate plea for help as George had no medical insurance.

A month later he was flown home, but after a second surgery to remove more of his tumour and 10 rounds of radiotherapy, medics have told his devastated loved ones that there is nothing more they can do.

George was set to have pioneering immunotherapy – a treatment that boosts the body’s natural defences to fight cancer – but he had just one session in December when he began to deteriorate. His family were told his growths had doubled in size.

Pleas ignored

George, originally from Basingstoke, had spent the past four years in Thailand and had settled in Ko Pha Ngan where he was a resident DJ and helped with conservation.

Back home after treatment, George took a sudden turn for the worse days before Christmas. “He couldn’t walk straight and his personality changed, he seemed drunk and totally detached from what I was saying,” explained Natalie.

On 21 December his family were told an MRI scan confirmed his condition was terminal. “We were in total shock. George and I had it all and we were living our dreams on a tropical island in Thailand then it was all snatched away.

“We took him home and with his family just tried to have the best Christmas we could.”

Now George has to take steroids to reduce the swelling in his brain – but it means he cannot continue with the immunotherapy as the medication stops it from working.

“When you’ve been told by doctors all they can offer is end of life care then alternative treatments is all we’ve got” Natalie Hobbs

With no conventional treatments on the table, he is trying various alternative treatments, including CBD oil, in a desperate bid to get well enough to be able to continue with the therapy in time.

But Natalie says his doctors are ignoring their pleas for him to be prescribed cannabis on the NHS.

“It may be his only hope now,” she says. “We know these things we are trying won’t be a cure for George, but when you’ve been told by doctors all they can offer is end of life care then alternative treatments is all we’ve got. Then, hopefully he can have another shot with the immunotherapy.

“George is just 29 and we are not ready to give up on him. But it feels like his doctors have. When we ask about cannabis it feels like it’s a joke and it’s not being taken seriously.”

Frustrating lack of advice

Natalie has now started a new GoFundMe appeal to help fund George’s CBD oil, which costs £600 a month. The pair were running a marketing and web business but have no money coming in since George took ill.

It is still unclear whether using cannabis has any anti-cancer effects, according to Macmillan Cancer Support.

The charity points out that some research has discovered that different cannabinoids can cause cancer cells to die and stop dividing and growing, while other research suggests they can increase the risk of developing cancer. It says there is some evidence that the chemicals in cannabis might help with cancer patients’ symptoms such as nausea and pain.

The Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, announced that medical cannabis would be available on prescription from 1 November last year. The new law does not place limits on the type of conditions that cannabis may be prescribed for, but it has so far been used in a handful of cases of children with severe epilepsy.

George, who is living in Stone in Staffordshire, has recently started IV vitamin C at a private clinic, along with a synthetic chemical called dichloroacetic acid (DCA).

Are IV vitamin C and DCA effective cancer treatments? Some studies in mice have apparently shown that high dose injections of vitamin C could slow the growth of cancers. However, according to an oncologist at The Mayo Clinic, there are still no well-done, controlled clinical trials that have shown a substantial effect of vitamin C on cancer. But some studies do suggest a mild decrease in side effects of certain cancer treatments when standard therapy is combined with high-dose IV vitamin C. DCA, which is used a as chemical peel, for tattoo removal and as topical medication for warts, hit the headlines as a cheap and safe way to “kill most cancers” after a Canadian study found it helped shrink malignant tumours in rats without affecting healthy cells. However, Cancer Research issued a statement in 2012 saying that most of the studies have only been done using cancer cells grown in the lab, and the drug has not yet been proven safe or effective for treating cancer in humans. Based on current research, the UK and US authorities do not sanction DCA as a cancer treatment.

“If your loved one is dying, and there is a small chance it can help, they should be given it” Natalie Hobbs

Natalie says she is frustrated that medics at Royal Stoke University Hospital, where George is being treated, will not back an application for medicinal cannabis.

“We’ve approached his GP, oncologist and nurses at the hospital and they are dismissive,” she said. “His GP just said we don’t understand what cannabis does yet and that was that.

“But if your loved one is dying, and there is a small chance it can help, they should be given it. We are giving him CBD oil off the shelf and because it’s not regulated as a medicine we don’t really know for sure what strength or type of cannaboids we are giving him. If we had a prescription we would do.

“So it’s just guess work which isn’t good enough when it’s about life or death of a 29-year-old. When we ask doctors for advice about alternative medicines, they are reluctant to tell you anything and you are just relying on your own research from the Internet.”

Keeping hope alive

Natalie said George has seen some improvements since he began taking the steroids and alternative treatments.

“He is walking again which is amazing and he has begun to play the guitar again which he hasn’t done at all since he got ill,” she said. “It’s great to see him get some spark back.

“It’s impossible to tell what is making him get a little better – he’s still taking the steroids, so it could be that or it could be the CBD, vitamin C or DCA or combination of it all. We just need to get him better for the immunotherapy.

What is immunotherapy? Immunotherapy has been hailed a ‘game changer’ in cancer treatment. It helps your own immune system to fight the disease. One reason that cancer cells thrive is because they are able to hide from your immune system. Certain immunotherapies can mark cancer cells so it is easier for the immune system to find and destroy them. Other immunotherapies boost your immune system to work better against cancer. It causes fewer side effects than other treatments. This is because it targets just your immune system and not all the cells in your body. Researchers are experimenting using different combinations of immunotherapy drugs and using it with conventional cancer therapies. Professor David Cunningham, director of Clinical Research at The Royal Marsden, said: “It [immunotherapy] has provided us with an option for cancers that are normally resistant to standard drugs, such as metastatic melanoma and kidney cancers.”

“George is the most genuine, kindest person I’ve ever met” Natalie Hobbs

“George is the most genuine, kindest person I’ve ever met. He’s the most easy going person who just wants everyone to be happy. If he’s in pain he won’t complain because he doesn’t want to upset those around him.”

A spokesperson for Royal Stoke University Hospital said: “Medicinal cannabis would only be prescribed when there is clear published evidence of benefit for patients and where there is a clinical need which cannot be met by a licensed medicine.”

To donate to the appeal for George’s treatments, visit here.