Not many of you will know this, as being a private person I like to keep myself to myself, but I have been living with cancer now for the last 7+ years. It has now spread to my brain and since that has happened, my life has changed slightly (not much, still living life to the full), but it has changed. I had to have a major operation on Monday 11th September 2017 to remove a tumor from my brain, and it seems to have gone well.
Firstly, this is not about me or sympathy. Everyone has problems in their life, depression, illnesses etc, so as far as I am concerned we are all in the same boat. No, my message is for those hidden legends behind the scenes that help you get through life when you’re feeling down.
Of course it goes without saying that along the way with my battle with cancer, I have met incredible medical professionals and care staff that are worth their weight in gold and have gone above and beyond to care for me, as well as friends and family that have always been there for me. I have also taken great inspiration from John Hartson who had Testicular Cancer in 2009 which spread to his brain.
Also my close friends and family, and Cat – who have all been fantastic during this time. Also Sheena Dryden the clinical nurse that has been just absolutely the best support you could ever wish for (more about Sheena to follow as i would love you all to help me raise £1100 to send her to the Amazon!).
But this story is not about them. This is about two people that have never even met me, but went out of their way to do something for me that has had a profound effect on me and I truly believe has made me feel better. One chap in particular that I really want to say Thank You too.
I am talking about Adam Howorth, Head of PR at Apple and the one and only Stephen Fry, both #legends in their own right!
For those interested, here is a bit of my recent History and how my battle with cancer came about (For those not, please feel free to skip this bit!).
Around about the end of 2009 I was diagnosed with Melanoma. The mole was removed and as it was 3.1 mm deep, they decided to do a sentinel node biopsy (basically, take a few lymph nodes out of your armpit or wherever the closest lymph nodes are and also take a 2cm incision around mole scar to make sure cancer has not spread.
I got the all clear and then went in for check ups 3 monthly, then 6, then yearly over the 5 years period, with given the all clear.
Fast Forward to April 2015, when I was at the gym, I noticed a lump under my armpit. I called the hospital, who called me in for a check up and biopsy. Shortly thereafter (August 2015) I had Surgery to my arm pit where the Left auxiliary Lymph nodes were removed.
A few months later there were little lumps that came back under the scar, which I thought were just a part of the scar tissue. It wasn’t. So in January 2016, I was once again having Surgery and the Left auxiliary Lymph nodes were removed again.
On the 27th February 2016 I had a Biopsy on my chest and an ultra sound and was given the all clear.
On the 25th Feb 2016, a CT scan on my chest gave a clear result, but I was referred to Oncology for 6 monthly appointments.
At my 16th August Oncology appointment with Dr Alan Christie at Western General Hospital something showing up on the scan of my lungs. It wasn’t conclusive but I was asked to come back in 3 months time, and He and the team would discuss my results in the meantime.
On the 9th September – a call from Dr Christie. He told me that the radiologist had seen the scan and they were pretty sure that it was Melanoma in the lungs and that they wanted me to come in to discuss immune therapy options.
14th September – a meeting with Dr Christie where plans were made to start me on Ipilimumab and Nivolumab for 2 years starting in October 2016 as it was due to be passed by the Scottish Medicines Consortium.
Silly as this may sound, I asked if I could start the immunotherapy at the end of October instead as I wanted to get away for a Florida (Make a wish foundation lol) holiday before I started the cancer treatment as I might not get away again.
28th October – My 1st infusion of immunotherapy. After 2 weeks I started to suffer a high temperature (up at 40 degrees). So, had to take a trip to Hospital and I was stabilised after large dose of steroids to control everything.
Somehow I ended up with Hepatitis, pneumonitis and liver function of 225 (a “normal” person would score 0-40) as well as getting checked for diabetes!
By mid January 2017 I had got back to “normal” and continued on Nivolumab. The treatment has been fine since then.
The Start of the “Recent Troubles”.
31st August 2017 – I got home and ran upstairs and missed top step. I thought nothing of it as I was rushing. But when I went to put My hand out I had a “zero gravity” feeling down My right hand side and my right leg felt like rubber.
I thought it was to do with my treatment and it could be a side effect. Anyway it went away, so I continued as normal. About an hour later it came back and I was admitted hospital as my co-ordination was way off. I was released at midnight and told to see Oncology at Western General hospital.
They did a CT scan and found out that the cancer has spread to my brain…
My options were:
1 – Get it taken out in a major operation
or 2 – Not get it removed and use target radiotherapy or cancer suppressing drugs
The Oncologist arranged for another CT and MRI to check the rest of me to make sure the cancer had not spread elsewhere. The results were the best we could ask for. Two Neurologists were happy to operate (result!). One could do it at the end of September and the other one (Imran Liaquat) could do it on 11th September.
I announced that I wanted to go for it and was streamlined through the system.
How Apple Came Into It…
I was put on a high dose of steroids for pre op to reduce the swelling in my brain. The problem with that was that the Steroids kept me awake most nights and gave me time to think about things.
One night, I was lying in bed at 3 am and suddenly the date of the 12th Sept jumps into my head. And then it clicks, the huge iphone 8/10 launch is on the 12th September, and with my op on the 11th, what if I miss what comes out! As a massive Apple fan, I couldn’t bare not knowing about the new products!! After the announcements, I would still be in the High Dependency Unit, I might have brain damage, I might never know (This is before pre-op, when they give you the full risks, so I am now in major “worried mode”. I couldn’t shift this out of my head for 3 hours (I know, mental). The only way I could get back to sleep was have a plan on getting it out of my head. The plan was to use LinkedIn and see if I could reach out to someone in Apple PR that might be able to help me catch up with events after they have been launched. So, it was then that I found Adam Howorth (the hero of the story!) and reached out to him randomly through a LinkedIn request.
To my massive surprise, Adam Howorth replied!!
Adam was great and said he had been through tough things in life too and that he would set up my hotmail account and make sure that I would get all the updates as and when they come through to the press. He said that he lay awake working out the Man City formations for each game so knew what it was like to be up at 3am. He said he was a Man City fan and that he was in getting up to watch the Man City vs Liverpool game at 4.30 am in the states. I told him not to worry about that as Man City should do it easily. They won 5-0 and I sent him a message to say “5-0, that is all I am saying” He wished me good luck with my Op and to let him know how it went afterwards.
He sent me a bookmark to watch the live streams of the Apple Launch, which I sadly missed as I was not fully “with it”.
So after my operation I wrote to him at 4 am telling him everything went well and I appreciated what he did and if I could do anything for him I would.
What happened next was simply incredible.
I received another email from Adam Howorth entitled “But there is one more thing…”.
What was attached to the email had me and my girlfriend speechless… one of my all-time heroes and King of Apple Gadgets, the one and only Stephen Fry, was talking directly to me on camera…. See it for yourself here:
Stephen Fry’s Message to Keith (Fighting Cancer)
Saying Thank You, and the Man City Connection
I wrote back to Adam immediately and told him that if he wanted to use this as PR I am happy with it. He replied that that’s not Apple’s way. Their way is to get me better. I suggested (tongue in cheek) that perhaps an iPhone X would make me feel a lot better! But then on a serious note I said that if he was ever in Edinburgh I would buy him lunch/dinner depending how long he had. He replied he would reach out if he was in Edinburgh.
What Adam did for me, first by replying and being so lovely in our email exchanges, and then by BLOWING MY MIND with the message from Stephen Fry, has helped me so much. It took the focus off of the Cancer and made me feel better than any morphine could have!
I have always been more comfortable in life giving than receiving (Stop it!). I feel like regardless of what I am going through, I’d feel better if I could give back to Adam for what he’s done for me. He is not asking for it or even expecting anything, but if some good could come out of this brain tumor, then Adam should get it. Whether that is a signed Man City top or tickets for the game as a thanks. He didn’t have to reply to my 3am LinkedIn request, but he took the time, and then went WAY beyond that by arranging a message from Stephen Fry outside the Apple Visitor Centre!
Maybe you know someone at Manchester City FC and can help me say Thanks to Adam? Or Maybe you can just help me spread the word so that more people can know about what Adam did for me.
Keith's Story 