The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Father who moved wedding after cancer diagnosis backs campaign
A man who brought his wedding forward by a year after he was diagnosed with a rare cancer is backing a new fundraising campaign.
Craig Speirs, 37, has teamed up with his wife Angela and children Rhianne, eight, and Adam, one, to urge people to wear a unity band on World Cancer Day on February 4.
The bands, available for a suggested donation of £2, feature a classic reef knot design to symbolise the strength of people coming together to unite against the disease.
Mr Speirs, from Elderslie, Renfrewshire, urged people to buy the unity bands.
He said: “I’ll keep on fighting and I’m determined to do everything I can to help other people suffering from his horrible disease.
“I have so much to live for. I want to see my son start school and walk my daughter down the aisle on her wedding day.
“I’d like to dance with my wife on our silver wedding anniversary and read stories to my grandchildren.
“There is life after cancer today thanks to research and thanks to scientists developing better treatments for the disease.
“Just by wearing a unity band, everyone can help make a real difference to people with cancer.”
After a career as a royal engineer in the army, Mr Speirs was working as a security company manager when he first developed symptoms including abdominal pain, hot flushes and diarrhoea in 2010.
After dozens of visits to his GP, it was not until October 2013 that tests at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley revealed tumours in his liver.
He and his fiancée had set a date to get married in summer 2015 but brought the wedding forward after his diagnosis and were married at the Beardmore Hotel in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, on February 15 2014.
Mr Speirs began a course of injections every four weeks in an effort to stop the cancer from growing and endured surgery in June 2014, then again in September 2014.