Nigel Bickley, 56, was very fit and active doing a physical job, when one day he experienced blood coming out of his bottom while walking down the stairs.
His wife Julie made him go to his GP to check it out, and Nigel went on to be diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer which had spread. He was told it was too late to operate on but chemotherapy was proposed to manage further spread.
Doctors found that Nigel was one of only 8% of people in the country to carry a specific gene – meaning he was eligible for targeted trials that had been ongoing at The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital’s Lingen Davies Cancer Centre. He was given an initial dose of chemotherapy which caused such dramatic side effects that surgeons had to remove his bowel and Nigel was given a stoma bag.
Now he is on a course of immunotherapy, treatment not available to everyone but open to Nigel, and thankfully his tumour is shrinking.
He says only three people in the Centre are going through the same immunotherapy, dependent on a specific gene…
Watch Nigel’s story below
