Funeral cancelled after drug miracle

A GRANDAD given days to live made a shock recovery after the drugs he was trialling kicked in while his wife was planning his funeral.

After cancer ravaged his face and throat, Geoff Pritchard, 71, had moved to a hospice. But when his six children gathered at his bedside to say goodbye they found him “perked up” and having a shower.

His wife of 36 years Tina, 60, said: “The nurses were gobsmacked. We’d gone there thinking it was the end but when we arrived he looked better than he had in weeks.

“I’d prepared his funeral because I knew I would fall to pieces after he’d gone. All the suits were sorted.”

To their astonishment,

Geoff’s dramatic turnaround continued as his tumours shrunk and he was discharged two months later.

After a further eight months on the drug, the retired car dealership owner was put in remission – and has now been cancer free for a year.

The grandad of 13, who is waiting for reconstructive surgery, said: “I always kept my chin up – even when the illness meant I didn’t have a chin. It is a miracle to think how close I was to death.

“I have a new lease of life – and thankfully the suits Tina bought have been kept for another time.”

He was referred to Glan Clwyd Hospital in Rhyl in Denbighshire in 2016 after his dentist spotted an ulcer under his tongue. A biopsy revealed mouth cancer, which affects 6,800 a year in the UK.

Most of his tongue was removed and replaced with muscle from his thigh, rolled out inside his mouth.

His jaw was also pinned during the gruelling 14-hour op and lymph nodes removed.

Geoff said: “I was in turmoil. But I was determined to be positive.” Tina added: “He can move his new tongue but can’t roll it back or taste much. He has trouble speaking but can be understood.””

Geoff also had six weeks of radiation therapy. But in March

2017, the cancer returned.

Tina said: “It spread across his jaw. Then a lump was found in hiss neck. They couldn’t do any more for him.”

In August, he was referred to

The Christie in Manchester to seee if he was eligible to try a new immunotherapy drug that boostss the body’s natural defences, as part of a clinical trial.

By then, Geoff, from North Wales,es, had tumours all over his face, someme the size of golf balls. His jaw begangan to “crumble”, Tinana says, and, unablee to chew or swallow,w, he was given a feeding tube.

Geoff said: “Thehe tumours were likeke barnacles on a ship.hip. People stared att me. But I didn’t give up and I insistedd on this trial.” By September, he was given 21 days to live. But he was treated intravenously with the drug at Thehe Christie’s Clinical Research Facility,ty, before moving to St Kentigern’s Hospice for his final days.

Tina recalled: “It felt like I was losing my best friend.”

She spent 18 nights at his bedside,side, sorting the funeral between visits.ts.

His shock turnaround was the start of a miracle recovery. Geofff continued to take the drug, whichh is still being trialled, for another year.ear.

Geoff said: “A lot of people I knownow assumed I’d be dead now. They lookook shocked when I turn up.”

Dr Robert Metcalf, a consultantt at The Christie, added: “I am so pleasedased for Geoff and his family.

“Against all the odds he has madeade a dramatic turnaround and is noww disease free.”