Yorkshire dad’s battle to beat cancer despite being given a year live

When Russell Alderson was diagnosed with colon cancer he was told he would die by the end of the year.

But rather than giving up the father of one was determined to fight the disease,

Russell, 38, who lives in Doncaster with his partner Hayley and daughter Abigail, 15, decided he was not going to accept the prognosis and would challenge the oncologists.

“I can’t accept that I’m going to die so early; I’m just not ready to leave my partner Hayley, my daughter Abigail and my family,” says Russell, an IT manager for KPMG.

Russell’s symptoms started at the beginning of 2018 with a complete change in his usual bowel habits – alternating between diarrhoea and constipation. GPs prescribed laxatives but the problem persisted. He developed a pain in his left side and started passing blood when going to the toilet. Doctors thought it was IBS, but Russell feared it was something much worse.

Over the next two months Russell continued going back and forth to the doctors and was referred to a local hospital where he had an X-ray and blood tests, but still the cancer wasn’t picked up. Eventually, convinced something more was seriously wrong, Russell demanded a CT scan. The results informed him that he had colon cancer and that it had spread to his liver. The prognosis was not great. But despite everything he had been through Russell says he is an optimist, largely due to the death of his father in a road traffic accident when Russell was 17.

“I remember my Dad saying he wished he had done more with his life, but he died before he got a chance. I vowed then to one day make my dad proud, work hard, live life to the full and subsequently decided not to accept that nothing could be done about my prognosis. I kept researching online to find some other option.”

He visited Dr Andrew Conn, consultant medical oncologist at Spire Leeds Hospital in May 2018.

“Dr Conn He was different from other oncologists I had seen. He didn’t mention the word ‘death’. He explained everything in a sensitive way. I feel that Spire acted fast, saved my life and got me from a scary place to a point where the cancer is managed. They definitely set me on the right track.”

Dr Conn recommended Professor Peter Sagar, a Leeds colorectal surgeon. After having chemotherapy to reduce the primary tumour in his bowel, Russell ended up having emergency surgery at St James’ Hospital in Leeds to remove it.

However, the cancer in Russell’s liver and pelvis remains inoperable. But he continued to research and even phoned into online cancer conferences across Europe and the US, learning a lot about bowel cancer and possible new treatments. He brought his findings to his appointments with Dr Conn whilst he was undergoing chemotherapy.

Dr Conn encouraged him to do so also warned him that some of the treatments Russell was finding would only benefit three per cent of bowel cancer patients.

“I joked that I would find something and one day I would be in that three per cent,” said Russell.

“Dr Conn next suggested I meet with Dr Greg Wilson, a leading oncologist at The Christie Hospital in Manchester, (the largest cancer treatment centre in Europe). Dr Wilson arranged for Russell to undergo ‘Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)’ – where the tumour is biopsied and analysed for high and low levels of proteins and for mutations in genes that are found in some cancers.

Russell also had a drug sensitivity test performed. This test involved growing the excised tumour in a laboratory and treating it with different types of drugs. The results showed there were another 15 potential treatments that could shrink his cancer.

“Soon after meeting Dr Wilson, and following the tests, he called me to tell me he had some ‘amazing news’ – the NGS testing had revealed that the tumour had high levels of HER2 protein – a protein found in certain types of breast cancer. Only three per cent of people with bowel cancer have this protein,” says Russell. It meant that he could benefit from a targeted therapy drug called Herceptin, normally used to treat breast cancer.

Now at The Christie Hospital, Russell is continuing with his chemo treatment, in combination with the Herceptin therapy drug. But it is not licenced in the UK to treat colon cancer and so Russell is self-funding the treatment which costs £1,500. But his savings are fast running out and so in a bid to continue this life-saving treatment his partner Hayley Stedmans has launched a crowd-funding appeal to raise £25,000. It has already raised £5,000 to help Russell continue his treatment.

“I’m surrounded with positivity, both from the team at Spire, The Christie and from my partner, daughter and family. KPMG have been extremely supportive in giving me the time to focus on me and my condition, I couldn’t have asked for anything more from them,” says Russell.

“I told doctors that I would eventually make it into a significant three per cent and now that’s a reality. I’m hoping this treatment will beat the cancer. The doctors have told me that best case scenario is the cancer will go into remission.”

Russell’s partner Hayley said: “Russ has remained the warm hearted, sensitive, joyous person he is throughout all of this.

“Through struggles of side effects and mental pain, he always walks out of treatment with a smile knowing he has battled one more cycle.”

Self-funding Herceptin will cost Russell Alderson an estimated £1,500 per cycle.

The drug will be combined with three other chemotherapies given every three weeks to create an aggressive but hopefully effective treatment plan, providing Russell with the best chance at survival.

“The duration of treatment is unknown, as such we’re
looking to raise £25,000 to help cover a year’s worth of cycles for Russ.

“Any money unused will be donated to the charities who have helped Russ on his journey,” explains Russell’s partner, Hayley Stedmans.

For more information or to donate visit www.gf.me/u/wsqcvn