A FUNDRAISING campaign to help a Newton Abbot man left paralysed from the chest down after his back pain turned out to be testicular cancer has reached almost £6,000.

Mal Nash, who is in his early 40s, had been suffering back pain for six months before he was diagnosed with a form of testicular cancer.

But it had spread to his spine causing slow paralysis.

He is now completely paralysed from the chest down which doctors say is likely to be lifelong.

His twin brother Kevin set up a Go Fund Me campaign to help financially and provide alterations and equipment for his ongoing care.

This has now almost reached the target of £6,500.

Kevin said: ‘Mal is receiving chemo for his diagnosis.

‘He had had just started his own business.

‘Unfortunately he's unable to work and with that comes money worries so I'm just trying to raise a bit a alleviate some of that worry for him.’

As reported in the Mid Devon Advertiser in October last year, Mal had been given painkillers but continued to ‘seize up’ and was losing his ability to walk.

After two more trips to A&E an MRI scan diagnosed Mal with a form of testicular cancer called Metastic Seminoma which had caused his paralysis.

Emergency surgery on his spine in the hope of regaining motor function below his chest was unsuccessful.

Kevin said: ‘It was horrendous, I couldn’t even describe it.

‘It was awful to see him like that, you always see it happen to other people and never expect it to happen to you.

‘Now he has just been put on rounds of chemo.

‘He won’t be able to move now but hopefully the cancer will go.

‘We live together so I am trying to raise some money as the house will need to be more accessible now. We are just trying to take it day by day.’