I want to make the most of the time I have left
A CAMPAIGNER battling cancer is back home after undergoing three operations in seven weeks.
Father-of-five Irfon Williams was diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer in 2014, which has now spread to his liver, stomach and lungs.
Throughout that time the former mental health manager has tirelessly raised money for his beloved NHS through the #TeamIrfon campaign – amassing an astonishing £140,000 so far.
Relieved to be back home in Bangor again, the 46-year-old said: “I’ve been through the mill. I had to go back to hospital at Aintree for an operation to reverse a colostomy which went wrong and there was a leak in the valve and I had an infection. I had a second operation to have the colostomy made permanent.
“Then I went home after three weeks and I wasn’t well and I returned to Ysbyty Gwynedd (Bangor) for a month because the valve had blocked and I had to have another op. I have to praise the staff in Ogwen ward because the care I received was excellent.”
Last month he received the devastating news that his cancer had spread, but he remains determinedly upbeat.
Instead of taking it easy after his seven weeks in hospital, Irfon will be on his travels with the family today to support his beloved Wales rugby team. “We are going to Cardiff for the game versus Japan. Life is for living – I want to make the most of the time that I have left.”
Irfon said he, wife Rebecca and their two youngest sons, Sion and Ianto, will be meeting his old school buddy, former Wales hook- er Robin McBryde, before the game at the Wales team’s hotel.
He will be able to have more chemotherapy in January to try to halt the spread of cancer.
His wife Rebecca has also got in on the fundraising act by telling the family’s story and contributing a recipe for leek soup for a cookbook compiled by bowel cancer survivor Dafydd FarrJones, from Porthmadog.
Cook Along With Celebrities and Inspirational People will be published on December 1 to raise awareness and funds for the Beating Bowel Cancer charity.