A father who raised £100,000 to fund his "last hope" cancer treatment in Israel will fly out for surgery this week after getting the green light from doctors.

Mark Towens, from Gravesend, faced an anxious wait over the summer for the results of tests and scans to find out if he could travel and receive the potentially life-saving treatment.

The 39-year-old's skin cancer returned five years ago but his courses of treatment in Britain were not working to remove it.

Then he received the news the cancer had spread to his brain meaning he was no longer eligible to take part in a clinical trial on the NHS and had to fund the treatment he needs himself which is only available abroad.

The tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) course is not available in the UK meaning he needed to foot the bill to get treatment in either Israel or the USA.

Within weeks of launching a fundraising page Mark had reached his target. But he still needed to wait to find out if the cancer was stable enough for surgery.

TIL involves harvesting cells which are beating the cancer, growing billions of them artificially and with drugs boosting their effectiveness, and having them injected back into the body to fight the cancer cells.

Dad-of-two Mark said: "The last few months have been a challenging period with what felt like a lot of waiting and hurdles to jump to get to the point of being accepted to travel to Israel.

"As anyone who has had cancer knows waiting for the results of scans and tests is the worst part and I was so pleased that the tests showed I was having a good response to the chemotherapy that was putting me in a position to have this treatment.

"My team at the Royal Marsden Hospital have been amazing during this period, helping and supporting me through the whole process and giving me guidance where they could.

"I am so thankful to them for this support."

Mark is now set for a three-week stay in hospital but will spend three months in Israel on a long road to recovery.

He hopes to be home for Christmas but due to Covid-19 travel restrictions closing the borders in Israel, he will not see his children throughout that time.

"This was a bit of a surprise and unfortunately due to the situation with Covid my family won’t be able to travel with me.

"This has been the hardest part of preparing for treatment and we have worked out things we can do together over FaceTime and preparing the children for this so I can keep in contact with them.

"As I am travelling for treatment I can enter the country along with a single family member so a family member will be joining me over the critical points of the treatment."

Mark says while there is no guarantee the treatment will work, he had to give it a shot and look into his children's eyes and tell them he had tried everything.

He added: "At times I have wondered whether I am doing the right thing spending so long away from the children at such a critical time.

"However, on the days when we were having issues and wondering whether it was going to happen or not, all I could think is how much I wanted the opportunity for this treatment. So I know it’s the right thing to be doing."

Mark will meet his consultant in Israel next week with a view to having surgery about seven to 10 days later.

The harbour master says a silver lining throughout the nervous wait has been that he's been feeling well in recent months with limited side effects from the chemotherapy he's been having to try to stabilise the cancer.

"The treatment in Israel is very challenging and it will take me some time to recover," he added.

"It’s been fantastic for me that despite my serious health issues I have still been able to enjoy quality time with my children and family and try to make the most of this time when I am still feeling well."

Hundreds of people have helped raise the money for Mark, which he says left him feeling humbled and emotional.

Mark also led a group to develop a drowning prevention plan for the River Thames which was praised by Prince William.

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Read more: All the latest news from Gravesend