Courageous Poots remains upbeat as he’s given date for kidney scan

I’ve put my faith in God and have a deep sense I’ll recover, says DUP man

AGRICULTURE Minister Edwin Poots has been offered a scan in March to establish whether his kidney cancer has spread, he has revealed.

The DUP MLA is one of 400 cancer patients in Northern Ireland whose potentially life-saving operations have been postponed since January as a result of the crisis currently facing the health service.

He was diagnosed with kidney cancer while in hospital at the start of December for emergency surgery after developing appendicitis.

At the time, he was told it had not spread and curative surgery to remove his right kidney would be carried out between six and eight weeks later.

However, he was subsequently informed that the operation had been postponed indefinitely due to the surge in people seriously ill with Covid-19.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, Mr Poots, who was Health Minister between 2011 and 2014, said: “I have been offered a second scan in March, so at least that will let me know if the cancer has spread.

“If things have spread rapidly at that stage, I would be moved up the surgical list quite quickly.

“It’s a desperate situation for the patients and it’s also a desperate situation for the clinical teams to be in.

“It is highly frustrating that their specialism is being compromised as a consequence of another condition and they aren’t allowed to work in the area in which they are trained.”

Mr Poots said he had not ruled out turning to the private sector for surgery that may ultimately save his life.

The operation, which takes about two hours to complete, is available in at least one private clinic in Northern Ireland and is believed to cost around £10,000.

Mr Poots said that while he believes the NHS should be free to everyone at the point of contact, he was not prepared to die for a political ideology.

He added he was disappointed that the health service was currently unable to provide a service he desperately needs.

Mr Poots, who recently welcomed his first grandchild, continued: “I had no symptoms at all. I had excellent health throughout 2020.

“I had decided to lose weight and had shifted a stone and a half, so it all came as a bit of a shock.

“It all happened in the space of 24 hours when I had a burst appendix. I had a CT scan before the operation to remove my appendix and, the morning after my surgery, the surgeon landed in at about six o’clock and broke the news to me.

“He said they had found something suspicious. After I asked him a few questions, it quickly became obvious what they believed it to be.

“The diagnosis came about purely because of the scan. It was absolutely a blessing that I had appendicitis because if I hadn’t had the scan, the tumour wouldn’t have been identified and it would have manifested itself after a period of time in other organs.

“I was told I only needed surgery and didn’t need chemotherapy or radiotherapy, which was a huge relief, but now I don’t know when that surgery will be.

“If it wasn’t for Covid, I would have had the operation by now.”

Asked how he has continued with his work, which has seen him embroiled in a high-profile row over Brexit in recent days, knowing that he has cancer, Mr Poots replied: “Personally, I don’t dwell on it. I have a deep sense that this will work out fine for me.

“I trust that God put me on my back so that I could discover a much greater problem that can be dealt with.

“This isn’t the diagnosis of death which it may have been 30 or 40 years ago.”