'I was devastated. They gave me a 40 per cent chance of survival from throat cancer'

Lawry Gallagher will never know exactly what caused his throat cancer, although he suspects that starting smoking cigarettes while at school and then moving on to cigars could be to blame.

"I used to inhale the cigars but I didn't think they were affecting my health. I still played loads of sport and was really fit," says the IT technician from Bradford.

Lawry was just 50 years old when doctors discovered what he thought was a cyst on the side of his throat was cancerous.

"I was devastated," says the father-of-two. "My daughter was expecting our second grandchild just a few weeks later and I took the news really badly. It hit me really hard; they gave me a 40 per cent chance of survival. I just didn't know how I was going to get through it. And then one day I woke up and thought, 'You've got cancer, now deal with it'."

Lawry is one of a growing number of people aged 50 and below being diagnosed with mouth, oesophagus and larynx cancers. Each year the diseases, known as upper aero-digestive tract (UADT) cancers, kill 10,000 people in the UK and more than 100,000 across Europe. Experts this week revealed that the number of under-50s suffering them has doubled over the last two decades.

Researchers at the University of Aberdeen found that nearly nine out of 10 UADT cancers in the under-50s were caused by smoking tobacco, drinking alcohol and/or a lack of fruit and vegetables in the diet.

"I used to smoke 20 a day when I was younger, and I like a drink. They say more often than not this kind of cancer is linked back to smoking. All I can say is that if I had a chance to go back to when I was 15 or 16 then I wouldn't smoke," says Lawry.

Treatment for neck and throat cancer is very intensive and like Michael Douglas, Lawry had to endure radio and chemotherapy. But unlike the star, Lawry first had an operation to remove the cancer. "They gave me a choice which was really hard," says Lawry. "I could either have the chemo and radiotherapy and then the operation, or the other way round. I decided to go for the operation first because I felt that my body would be better able to cope with it."

It meant that Lawry had to undergo a 12-hour operation at Bradford Royal Infirmary, in which the lump was removed along with lymph nodes from the right side of his throat. A deep skin graft was taken from his left wrist and transplanted to the back of his throat. A skin graft from his leg was used to replace the graft from his wrist. His lip was split and his jaw sawn in half. Despite the major surgery, which left Lawry unable to speak or eat for some time, he was able to spend Christmas at home with his family, wife Jayne, children Andrew and Danielle and grandchildren Max and newly-born Lilly.

"It was fantastic; we had a great family Christmas. The support of friends, family and the medical teams has been amazing throughout my treatment," says Lawry. "I just don't know how people can go through it alone."

By the end of January last year, Lawry was fit enough to start the gruelling eight weeks of radio and chemotherapy he would need to eliminate the cancer cells and to try to ensure they did not return.

Michael Douglas is part-way through his radio and chemotherapy at the moment.

"It takes a couple of weeks for the effects of the radiotherapy to hit you," explains Lawry. "You have to wear a specially-made mask which covers your entire face, head and neck and is fastened to the bed where you are having the radiotherapy. I felt like the man in the iron mask.

"Luckily I am not claustrophobic, but if I was I can imagine it would be very difficult."

The mask is needed to make sure that the patient's head doesn't move so that the radiotherapy can target the affected area. Lawry had to undergo this 35 times over eight weeks for between 30 minutes and an hour as well as having two overnight stays for chemotherapy.

"After two weeks of treatment you start to get ulcers in your mouth, your neck starts to redden and blister and then you start not being able to eat." Lawry was given morphine which he could self-administer to help cope with the pain and

a feeding tube was fitted into

his stomach.

"You get to the stage where you can't lie down to sleep because you can't swallow or breathe properly. But then you have to think that it is hopefully saving my life."

Sarah Cost, lead Macmillan head and neck cancer nurse specialist at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for treatment of this type of cancer, was particularly painful.

"It destroys cells in the lining of the mouth and throat which then become very sore and swollen making it difficult to eat and swallow, so weight loss can become a problem. Saliva glands are normally destroyed and so patients need to drink water to swallow and they often have to have some of their teeth removed because without saliva, acid from food attacks the teeth."

Lawry had eight teeth removed as a precaution when he had

his operation.

Sarah added that in this country it would have been likely that Michael Douglas would have had an operation before his radio and chemotherapy, which would probably have resulted in his larynx or voice box being removed. She added that this may still happen.

As for Lawry, he is now back at work. He realises that he is still at risk of the cancer returning but works hard to remain positive.

"The main thing is to try to keep yourself busy. I kept a blog which I send out to friends to keep them updated and I got so many positive responses back that it really helped. I did have down days but then I kept myself busy and tried to keep positive."

Lawry and his son Andrew recently did a sky-dive to raise 2,000 for the Michelle Fuller Head and Neck Research Fund 8300, which supports head and neck cancer research in Bradford Teaching Hospitals.

"The psychological impact is often very hard for patients to deal with," added Sara Cost, who helped set up the support group Croakies. "Everyone is different but we have found that it does help people to speak to others who have been through a

similar experience."

Sarah is now looking at the possibility of going into schools with patients to show youngsters the effects of smoking and lifestyle.

"We are seeing children smoking as early and 12 and 13 so we need to be getting the message across much earlier about the effects of smoking

and lifestyle."

Anyone who would like to add to Lawry's fund-raising efforts can visit www.justgiving.com /lawry-andy-skydive.

Wall Street Money Never Sleeps, starring Michael Douglas, is at cinemas nationwide this week.