CHOSEN AS FACE OF NEW CAMPAIGN
their vows. Craig said: “No one knows what is going to happen in the future but I knew Angela was the one for me.
“I was determined not to miss out on the opportunity to marry her. Angela looked so beautiful on our wedding day and I wanted to make it her perfect day. It was a chance to forget for a few hours all the tough moments we’d been through and to celebrate with the people we loved.”
By his wedding day, Craig also had more information about the cancer he was fighting. Doctors explained that Craig had neuroendocrine tumours in his gut which had spread to his liver.
The neuroendocrine system is made up of nerve and gland cells. It makes hormones and releases them in to the bloodstream. Neuroendocrine cells in the gut make hormones to control the release of digestive juices in to the gut and the muscles that move food through the bowel. A neuroendocrine tumour interferes with this process, leading to either too little of certain hormones or the wrong hormones being released in the wrong place.
Craig began a course of injections every four weeks in an effort to stop the cancer growing.
He also endured surgery in June 2014 then again in September 2014 at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer centre in Glasgow to cut off some of the blood supply to the tumours. The treatment meant he was well enough to spend precious time with his family and on July 9 2016, Craig was over joyed when his son Adam was born. Craig said: “I’ll never forget the moment the midwife put Adam in to my arms for the first time. Both my kids mean the world to me. I tell my daughter that daddy has a monster in his belly and that I have to go to hospital regularly to have the monster put to sleep.”
Craig is now due to start peptide receptor radionuclide therapy, radiotherapy to cancer from inside the body. The radioactive substance will be given to Craig through a drip in his arm every eight to 12 weeks. And Craig knows exactly what he’s aiming for in 2018. He said: “In 2018 I’m hoping for love, friendships and to continue to be the best dad that I can be to my children.
“I want simple things like good times spent in the park on a Saturday afternoon with my family. But I’m also hoping for the big things like new and better treatments for cancer for me and for everyone else out there who has cancer. That’s why World Cancer Day is so important.”
One in two people born after 1960 in the UK will be diagnosed with cancer at some point and although survival has doubled since the early 1970s, Cancer Research UK needs everyone to act to help speed up progress and see more people survive the disease.
Lisa Adams, Cancer Research UK spokeswoman in Scotland, said: “We are very grateful to Craig for showing how important it is for everyone to wear a Unity band on World Cancer Day.”
Unity Bands are available in all Cancer Research UK shops and online at www.cruk.org/ worldcancerday