Tumour survivor beat stacked deck
ELLIOTT Cox was an 18year-old semi-professional footballer when he was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer that had to be treated in days or he would die.
Over the next three years he would fight not only a Hodgkin’s lymphoma tumour the size of a soccer ball but also shingles, meningitis, a sweat gland infection and two collapsed lungs.
As the Gold Coast today marks Daffodil Day, with volunteers selling daffodils and pins across the city, Mr Cox recalled his remarkable story.
It began with the first diagnosis of his cancer, which would start, no doubt, the worst week of his mum’s life.
“The tumour was the largest Gold Coast University Hospital had ever seen,” Mr Cox, now 21, recalled.
“It was about the size of an inflated soccer ball and the doctors basically said we have to start immediate chemo or I would be dead in a week.
“At the time my mum was in England burying her mum who had just passed away. She found out I had cancer on Monday and buried her mum on Tuesday.”
Doctors started Mr Cox on a treatment and, in the meantime, he developed shingles and meningitis in his eye, spine and brain, for which he is still on medication.
The chemo didn’t eradicate his tumour, but it did shrink his soccer ball to the size of a golf ball.
He then started two months of daily radiation before his next scan.
The scan found the cancer had moved into his lungs, which they then tried multiple forms of chemo to treat, unsuccessfully.
“I had three to four different types of chemo, they didn’t work, which was really devastating to hear because we thought that would be it,” he said.
From there Mr Cox underwent stem cell treatment and aggressive chemo with the intent to completely clean his blood.
“I had 13 days of the most intense chemotherapy they can give you,” he said. “This chemotherapy cleans you out. Wipes out blood cells, destroys every fast-producing cell in your body. No tastebuds, no hair, no immune system, nail follicles start rotting. Everything just stops.”
During this process Mr Cox was so frail he was in complete isolation, a week before Christmas. His body broke out in a sweat gland rash that baffled doctors and his body’s constant temperature hovered around 40C.
“I sat in isolation for days purely because everything was so painful,” Mr Cox said. “I have some memory of my mum telling me to keep fighting.”
Then, days after doctors thought he was close to death, Mr Cox recovered.
He completed his stem cell treatment and started a new, weaker course of chemo. While there were more complications, the future is looking brighter.
“There will always be a chance it will come back but laughter is the best medicine,” Mr Cox said.