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Doting dad Felix Glenny was enjoying looking after his two young children, going out with his friends and spending time with his fiance.
But he’s just been given the devastating news he has bowel cancer.
Felix spent eight hours in theatre to remove the tumour and now faces weeks of gruelling chemotherapy.
His diagnosis is all the more heartbreaking following the death of his mother from bowel cancer three years ago, aged 41. His grandfather also died of the disease last year.
Despite his family medical history, Felix’s fiance Cola Weller said his concerns were ignored by doctors.
When Felix was doubled-up with stomach cramps he sought medical advice and was given antibiotics for a bowel infection. The following day, with the pain still unbearable, he was told it was a sickness bug that would pass.
Two days later when the pain hadn’t eased, he was given more antibiotics. When his conditioned deteriorated a few days later, he again contacted an out-of-hours doctor and he was then admitted to hospital.
He was given an emergency scan in the early hours which revealed a massive tumour in his bowel.
Cola, 22, said her world was crushed.
“But it was a relief that they were finally doing something,” she added. “It had been such a horrible two weeks because Felix had been so ill.
“In the three years I have known him, Felix has never been ill or had time off work for anything so I knew when he was in pain that he must have been really ill.”
Felix, dad to Ralph two, and Pearl, 11 weeks, had emergency surgery the following day. To remove the tumour, doctors had to take away half his bowel.
The 23-year-old ground worker is still recovering in hospital and has to be fed through a tube. He will be meeting with doctors on Tuesday to find out more about chemotherapy.
Cola, of High Street, Lower Stoke, said: “Felix has his good days and his bad days. Sometimes he is really positive and other times he is fed up and just wants it to all be over. He has got a long road ahead of him.
“He is missing being with the children and playing with Ralph. Ralph is quite wary going to see him in hospital. It is frightening for him to see his dad with tubes coming out of him.
“Felix loves spending time with the children and he is a great dad. He likes taking Ralph swimming and taking him to Monkey Bizz [indoor activity centre]. It has been awful seeing him so ill.”
Felix's friend Ashley Clark has set up a fundraising appeal to help Felix and his family throught his treatment.
Ashley, 23, said: "Felix is going to be off work for some time so I wanted to raise money to help and to make sure his family don’t want for anything.
"They can use the money to help pay the bills and to buy Christmas presents for the children."
Ashley has lined up a series of fundraising events. On Sunday, the salon where Cola works, Headcase in Chatham, will be offering haircuts in exchange for donations and some of Felix’s friends hope to do a sponsored wax.
On Saturday, November 30, Ashley is planning a pram race through Strood, followed by a fundraising night at the Coach and Horses pub in London Road, Strood.
On Sunday, December 1, Felix’s friends are planning a five-a-side football tournament at Kicks Soccer Centre in Strood.
