He says the biggest battle is ‘in his head’ as he focuses on making memories
A dad thought he’d come home from holiday with nothing more than a pesky insect bite – but it turned into the fight of his life. For around six months, Christopher Capstick kept going back and forth to his GP practice about a lump on his back that changed colour and size.
He says he was reassured it was a cyst until it was removed. Reality hit fast when doctors confirmed within 48 hours that it was melanoma, which has since become terminal after spreading to the brain.
Friends say Christopher’s always been the “keep smiling” type – but this has tested the whole family. They’re now trying to pack in as much normal life as possible between hospital appointments.
The 41-year-old charity worker from the Wirral has been told his condition is terminal after the cancer reached his brain. He’s now back on monthly immunotherapy and says the biggest battle is in his head, not his body, as he focuses on making memories with his three children.
He said: “My wife and I had just got married the year before, and I was sitting there with my pregnant wife being told that I have a 15% chance of surviving. It was just devastating.”
Christopher says the lump first appeared while he was on holiday in Greece in 2022, and he thought it was an insect bite. He kept began developing “bugs and colds” before being diagnosed with stage four melanoma in March 2023
For a moment, it looked like the nightmare might be easing. Christopher says he was briefly cancer-free at the start of 2025. The family threw themselves into planning trips away together with daughters Isabella, Mila and Nylah.
But just weeks before they were due to head to Florida, he became seriously unwell. Scans revealed six tumours on his brain and another six elsewhere in his body, and he says he was given a terminal diagnosis with 12 months.
Christopher says he came close to brain surgery to laser the tumours, only for a final scan to show five had disappeared. Despite it all, Christopher says he’s determined to keep going for his kids.
He said: “I’m quite positive, I don’t feel like I’m dying. I have three young kids and that’s a massive motivation for me.
“It’s what drives me to get to a stage where all my kids remember who I am. It feels like more of a mental battle rather than a physical battle.”
The family has also tried to find a way to explain the situation to the children in a gentler way. Christopher says Isabella ended up writing a book to help other kids dealing with a seriously ill parent.
The proud dad said: “We couldn’t find the words, and there was no guidance out there to discuss it with your kids. I said we needed a storybook, and my wife and Isabella ran with that. It doesn’t mention cancer in the book, but it explains it in a way that kids can understand.”
The book has already struck a chord with other families, with Christopher saying it’s picked up glowing reviews. He says writing it helped Isabella process what was happening at home, and they’re now fundraising to get Daddy’s Little Monsters into every cancer centre, hospital, and Maggie’s Centre.