Chester Chronicle editor-in-chief Eric Langton talks about his battle with bowel cancer

Dec 10 2009 by Eric Langton, Chester Chronicle

Cancer treatment in Cheshire and Wirral is among the best in the country. Editor-in-chief ERIC LANGTON describes his experience of being diagnosed with bowel cancer and the treatment received

Last Friday was a good day, a milestone achieved, as I swallowed the last of a six- month course of chemotherapy tablets washed down by a glass of champagne, followed by more champagne and a very unpleasant night of feeling really ill.

The tablets were part of a cocktail of drugs prescribed by my oncologist, Dr Joe Maguire, an unassuming, quietly-spoken man with a worldwide reputation, based at Clatterbridge Hospital.

My journey began with a bowel cancer screening kit sent to me as a 60th birthday ‘present’ by the NHS, which discovered abnormalities and a visit to Fazakerley Hospital in Liverpool, where a colonoscopy was carried out.

I was feeling vulnerable and anxious, knees drawn up in a foetal position and lying on my side while a doctor manipulated the camera studying an unfamiliar internal view of my body.

Three nurses were involved in light-hearted discussion about something, I wasn’t paying attention, but each kept an eye on the large screen displaying the progress of the camera during my colonoscopy.

The doctor paused and studied the picture. The nurses went quiet and the one behind me touched my shoulder and asked gently: “Are you all right honey?”

I knew instantly I wasn’t. And, despite some preliminary talk of biopsies, the doctor gave up on any prevarication and admitted I clearly had bowel cancer – and it was well advanced.

A long, silent journey home to break the news to my family as I considered my death sentence.

My thoughts were more questions than rage or tears. How could I not be feeling ill? How long had I got? What words could I conjure up to reassure my wife and children?

The news got worse over the next few days following more scans, when a patch on my left lung was also confirmed as a tumour which had spread from the bowel cancer.

Although this was about as bad as it could get I got lucky. The bowel tumour was in a good position for the operation to remove it.

My surgeon was the hugely experienced and reassuring George Foster and I joined the hundreds, probably thousands, of his grateful patients.

Four weeks later, and with a real sense of urgency, I went to the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital where Mr Neeraj Mediratta removed half my left lung… including the tumour.

My luck was still holding out, Mr Mediratta, like Mr Foster, is regarded as one of the most skilful surgeons in the country and my tumour, which looked as though it could be attached to the wall which divides the heart and lung, was growing only in the lung.

Then came the chemotherapy, six months of fortnightly sessions, with two drugs dripped into my arm every other Wednesday followed by nine days of another chemo drug in tablet form.

Once again I was lucky because I have a high tolerance to the side effects to the treatment, which include nausea, tiredness, suppressed immunity to infections, hands and feet that couldn’t touch cold or hot. And a throat that seized up when I swallowed a mouthful of ice-cold lager.

Chemotherapy is not fun, but the ability to tailor cocktails of drugs to match a particular cancer has improved dramatically.

I feel privileged to have put my life in the hands of such skilled and caring staff here in the North West.

There is no way of knowing what the future holds for me but, having completed the chemo, I now hope my good luck holds and that the three-monthly body scans and tests keep coming up clear.

My message for anybody being diagnosed with cancer is to stay optimistic. Treatment has never been better and survival rates locally are well ahead of national averages.

And to everyone else… if there is a screening test available get it done, the earlier the better. Early diagnosis is the most likely lifesaver.