Fundraiser for beloved barber from Peacehaven to help battle against brain tumour

Vance Manthorpe, 63, a well known barber from Peacehaven, has spent the past 18 months battling Diffuse Midline Glioma, a rare and aggressive type of brain tumour.

People can donate to the GoFundMe campaign, organized by his wife Natasha, at www.gofundme.com/f/uvfcxd-vance.

The couple both live in Newhaven and owned a Peacehaven barber shop for 20 years. However, they have had to sell it to pay for Vance’s dendritic cell therapy.

Tasha, 53, is now Vance’s full-time carer and said Vance was was diagnosed in July 2023. He was given just three months to live.

She told the Sussex Express: “There was a six month lead-up to finding out.”

She said: “We were taking him to the doctors and they were trying to do a process of elimination. Vance sort of acted like he was drunk and like he had had a stroke. They were they symptoms and he kept repeating himself. We just knew things weren't right.”

Tasha called the eventual diagnosis ‘horrific’, saying: “You don’t ever expect to hear your husband’s got a terminal stage 4 brain tumour.”

Vance said: “They (the doctors) felt it was okay to give me almost a ‘sell-by date’ on my body. Three months to six months and, well, I didn’t want to hear that.”

Tasha said the doctor doubted there was anything that could be done and recommended the couple enjoy the time they had left together.

But Tasha said: “We came home and I thought ‘I’m not going to listen, I’m going to do my own thing’.”

She said she went into ‘research mode’ and looked at a range of possible treatments where she learned about dendritic cell therapy.

According to www.cancerresearchuk.org “Dendritic cells help the immune system recognise and attack abnormal cells, such as cancer cells.”

Tasha said Vance has blood drawn and taken to Germany to go in a machine that separates the white plasma from it. The white blood cells then go to the Netherlands where they are grown, multiplied and made stronger. This is then injected back into Vance’s bloodstream to help the body fight the bad cells.

Since July 2023, Vance has had chemotheraphy, radiotherpy and dendritic cell therapy. The last dendritic cell therapy finished about six months ago and the results of a recent MRI scan showed it had been effective.

Tasha said: “In all honesty, really, Vance would have probably left us about ten months ago but the treatments are actually working.”

She said they will get the results of his most recent MRI scan on Wednesday, January 22. “If the tumour has grown he’s going to receive ONC201 via The Royal Marsden,” said Tasha, who is has been researching the ‘three-pronged cancer treatment’ of ONC201, ONC206 with dendritic cell therapy, which could get the tumour ‘down to the size of a pea’.

But a major challenge for the couple has been that the NHS could only offer Vance chemotherapy and radiotherapy, meaning they had to get dendritic cell therapy privately.

The Peacehaven community rallied around Vance last year, raising about £40,000 for Vance’s first round of treatment.

Tasha called the support ‘overwhelming and powerful’, saying: “It chokes me up a little bit. You know that they really love Vance. It was probably one of the most powerful things I’ve ever experienced.”

She added: “Vance is a really loved barber. He’s almost like a celebrity in East Sussex because of how long he's been looking after people.”

Their latest GoFundMe campaign was only started a week ago but has already raised more than £800. Vance and Tasha thanked the people who have donated so far. Tasha said: “I know we’re not going to get £16,000, but whatever we do get is a bonus.”

The couple are also thanking the staff at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, where they got the radiotheraphy and chemotherapy, for being so warm and welcoming.