AN URGENT appeal has gone out to help a Basingstoke man after he was diagnosed with a brain tumour thousands of miles from home.

On the morning of Tuesday, 25 September, George Gannon, from Old Basing, awoke unable to speak and move his legs in his home in Thailand. He was rushed to Koh Samui hospital, where he was diagnosed with a frontal lobe malignant tumour on the left side of his brain.

Doctors confirmed that he is unable to travel back home until he has undergone an operation to remove as much of the tumour as possible, which will be performed on Sunday, 30 September.

His mother and his brother are travelling to be with him tomorrow (Saturday 29) and are trying to fundraise to help pay for the operation and the hospital care that George is receiving, as he has no medical insurance.

Speaking to The Gazette, George’s mother Sarah Evison said: “He needs to be here, with the people that love him.

“We’re in contact with the embassy and the hospital, and we are hoping to be there for the operation on Sunday. We aim to be having a meeting and conference call with the doctors before we go, as they need to check if it has spread.

“We can’t make any plans until the prognosis is delivered, and then they decide when he is fit enough to go home.”

The tumour may be related to skin cancer that the 29-year-old was treated for at Basingstoke hospital two years ago, where he received ‘exceptional care’, according to Mrs Evison.

A fundraising page has been set up and has so far managed to collect just under £13,500 in only two days, with generous outpourings coming in, locally and globally. Mrs Evison is involved in the northern soul music scene, and there are fundraising buckets at some of the gigs in the near future, and fundraising nights are planned for the near future.

She added: “It’s outstanding, I’m overwhelmed by the response, there are people that I don’t know sending money and their best wishes, and I’ll be forever in their debt.

“There are people in Koh Phangan, where he was living, who are raffling off prizes like holidays to try and help him. They really are fundraising like Billy-o, and I am very humbled. I don’t know them, and they really are amazing.

“Grace, his sister, has been a bedrock and a huge help with all the organising efforts that she has put in on this side of the world.”

The former Queen Mary’s College and Costello student moved out to Koh Phangan two years ago with his girlfriend Natalie Grace and started their own business helping the islanders with their social media and websites.

While there he started DJing and running campaigns for environmental conservation on the island with beach clean-ups and teaching the locals about plastics and the environment. He also helped out at a dog rescue centre in the area.

When she last spoke to her son about a month ago, Mrs Evison said: “He told me he was having the time of his life.”

She added: “I can’t thank everybody who has helped so far enough, but we still need more.

“Everybody knows George, he is a Basingstoke boy through and through, but he really needs help. Please print out the fundraising page, put it in windows everywhere in Basingstoke and help us to get him better and then home to the people who love him.

“The islands have been outstanding, and it feels like I have the biggest family in the world with all the people who have come forward to help him.”

For more information about the campaign and to help the family, go to: gofundme.com/georgegannon, or to help through Paypal, use the e-mail: Sarah@evision.myzen.co.uk.