Man battling one of world's rarest tumours thought shoulder pain was due to gym
A young husband has been left facing the fight of his life after being diagnosed with one of the rarest and most aggressive cancers in the world — with doctors now saying there's nothing more they can do.
Alex Able, a 30-year-old engineer from Kent, began suffering from a nagging pain in his shoulder last year — pain he put down to working out at the gym.
But just months later, his world was turned upside down when a huge tumour was discovered near his spinal cord. After surgery, radiotherapy and chemo, the devoted husband and his wife Elle, 27, were left heartbroken when doctors revealed the devastating news — the cancer was back, and spreading fast.
Now, his family has launched a desperate race against time to find treatment abroad after being told in July that Alex's condition is 'now uncontrollable' and that the NHS will no longer pursue active treatment, reports the Mirror.
His mother-in-law, Katie Bleach, 44, who has been speaking on behalf of the couple, said: 'They essentially asked him where he'd like to die.'
Alex and Elle, who married in 2021 and had dreams of starting a family and moving to the countryside, were left shattered by the diagnosis. He was told he had a Rhabdoid tumour — a cancer so rare it's usually only seen in infants. Experts believe Alex may be the first known adult case in the UK, with only around 11 recorded across Europe.
Katie said: 'We've gone from planning a future to planning end-of-life care. But we will never give up on Alex — because he's not giving up on himself.'
After enduring surgery, gruelling radiotherapy, and six months of chemotherapy — which left him with throat burns, weight loss, and exhaustion — Alex began to show signs of improvement. Tumours shrank and some disappeared altogether.
But in April this year, everything changed. He began losing feeling in his legs, and an MRI revealed his cancer had spread again — including into his spine and brain.
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One morning, he woke up completely paralysed from the chest down. 'It was the worst day in the last 18 months,' Katie said. 'He looked at us and said he was done. He had nothing left.'
Now, the family is fighting back once more. They've set up a GoFundMe to raise money for private treatment, after being put in contact with world-leading specialists in Germany and the UK. Professor Robin Jones of the Royal Marsden has now agreed to take on Alex's case privately.
'Alex is absolutely over the moon,' Katie said. 'We've gone from complete devastation to hope. He's determined to be the one success story — not just for himself, but to give hope to children who face this awful disease.'
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