My cancer surgery was cancelled over Covid – now disease is terminal
‘Left us high and dry’
A DEVASTATED father is one of the first cancer patients in Britain to reveal his condition is now terminal after his surgery was cancelled due to the virus.
Adrian Rogers, 46, is a victim of the NHS backlog caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Experts predict the country will face up to 35,000 more cancer deaths this year as a result of the virus. And a survey by Cancer Research UK found as many as one in three cancer patients have experienced delays or cancellations to their treatment.
Mr Rogers, married to Amanda, 48, said their ‘world came crashing down’ when he was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer in 2018 which later spread to his liver.
After 18 months of chemotherapy, the family were given a glimmer of hope in February this year when he was deemed ready for surgery. He was booked in for an operation on his liver in early April at Manchester Royal Infirmary. However, when the pandemic hit, the surgery was delayed.
The number of tumours in Mr Rogers’ bowels and liver has since risen from six to 20 and the scaffolding supervisor, from Retford,
Nottinghamshire, has now been told his cancer is terminal so he is not operable. Mr Rogers – stepfather to Amanda’s three children Laura, 25, and twins Edward and Alexander, 21 – has questioned why hospitals were not set aside for urgent cancer surgery.
He said: ‘There have still been other illnesses that have needed treating during this time, not just Covid. I feel like the Government left us high and dry.
‘We were hearing in the news how there were all these private hospitals that were supposed to be set aside for people with other illnesses. But they were apparently just empty.’ It was revealed that up to four in ten hospital beds for urgent treatment were empty in April – even though thousands of people with non- coronavirus illnesses needed appointments.
Mr Rogers’ family hope his cancer will be managed through a £300-a-week drug called bevacizumab – which is sold under the brand name Avastin.
His wife has now set up a fundraising page to pay for the treatment and has raised over £10,000 in just ten days. But this is not enough to fund more than seven months of treatment.
Mr Rogers will receive his first dose on September 4. He said: ‘We’ve got to keep our hopes up. It won’t clear the cancer, it will halt it from spreading any further and hopefully give me a bit more time. I’m just praying it will work.’
Cancer Research UK said coronavirus has put a ‘huge strain’ on patients with the disease. Professor Charles Swanton, the charity’s chief clinician, said: ‘It has been a stressful time for many patients, worried about coming to hospital for fear of catching the virus or having their treatment delayed.’
Data-Can, the UK’s leading cancer data research hub, predicted the number of excess deaths in July. It found there could be at least 18,000 more cancer deaths this year – rising to 35,000 in the worst-case scenario.