Burnham dad diagnosed with cancer days after third baby born

Jay Martin, 47, noticed a lump on his neck in March 2023 but thought it was a swollen gland until it started to get bigger.

Two months later, in May 2023, just two days after his third child was born, he went to Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton alongside his wife, Sarah, 38, to get it checked out. 

Doctors looked down Jay's throat and told him they suspected he had cancer in his tonsil with a biopsy later confirming the diagnosis.

Within two weeks, Jay had an operation to remove one of his tonsils and started six weeks of chemotherapy and radiotherapy in June 2023.

After Jay finished the chemotherapy and radiotherapy, a scan showed the cancer had gone from his tonsils but was still in his neck.

In February 2024, Jay underwent a throat dissection - an operation to remove 13 lymph nodes, two nerves, and saliva glands.

Jay with his baby. (Image: Sarah Martin/SWNS)

He then went another four months without treatment until a scan in June 2024 showed the cancer had spread to his chest and spine - and doctors told the family it was incurable.

Jay has now started immunotherapy in the hope it will stabilise the cancer but Sarah admits they don't know what will happen next.

Sarah, a beauty trainer, said: "The hope is that the immunotherapy will stabilise the cancer.

"Jay will have the treatment for two years but we're not sure what will happen.

"For the first week after finding out the cancer had spread Jay was a mess as you worry about telling the children.

"We had told the children it has spread but haven't told them how bad it could be as we don't know what is going to happen.

"It is so surreal for us - it doesn't feel like it is happening. We feel numb, I don't think either of us has properly registered what is happening."

Jay and Sarah want to take their kids on a memorable holiday. (Image: Sarah Martin/SWNS)

She added: "They looked down his throat and pretty much then and there confirmed it was cancer in his tonsils.

"They did a biopsy and within a week they confirmed it was cancer.

"A lot of people thought it would cast a shadow over the birth of our newborn but it was the opposite.

"It was nice to have something to focus on, Jay would be feeling down and I would walk in with our boy and it would always make him smile."

After having a tonsil removed Jay also underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy. But he later discovered the cancer had left his tonsils but was in his neck.

Sarah said: "When he finished his treatment we had to wait three to four months to see what was going to happen.

"We went for a scan and they said the cancer was in his neck - it had spread from his tonsils."

In February 2024, Jay then underwent a throat dissection - an operation to remove groups of lymph nodes.

The operation was successful and they removed some nerves and veins that had cancer attached. 

Sarah said: "We waited another four months and in June 2024 we found out it had spread to his chest and spine.

"They deem it incurable, the hope is that immunotherapy will help stabilise the cancer but we just don't know what will happen."

Jay is now at the beginning of two years' worth of immunotherapy with relatives and friends setting up a GoFundMe for the family to make memories.

Sarah said: "We're all a member of Berrow Football Club and one of the school mums said she can't stop thinking about what is happening to us.

"Jay is not working and I am not able to work much but we would also really like to do things as a family.

"We would love to take the kids on a memorable holiday and make as many memories with them as we can."