FIVE YEARS AND STILL GOING STRONG
ADAD of two is gearing up to celebrate five years of being free from the cancer which left him unable to speak for six months – and even changed his accent.
Kevin Bennett, 55, was diagnosed with cancer of the tonsils in 2012.
What followed was a gruelling battle with chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
The ulcers he was left with after his radiotherapy rendered him unable to speak to his devoted wife and two young daughters.
Kevin, who is originally from London, had moved to Swansea in the 1980s and had developed an accent he describes as having a “Swansea twang”.
When his voice returned he had lost his accent and his voice had become a lot lower.
Despite a scare at the end of 2016 he is now looking forward to his fiveyear remission date on July 27.
Project manager Kevin’s symptoms looked similar to tonsillitis.
In fact when he first visited an outof-hours doctor after noticing pus in his throat he was given antibiotics.
When the antibiotics didn’t ease the pain he went to his own GP who referred him to hospital.
A biopsy of his throat revealed it was cancer.
Kevin was given three rounds of chemotherapy. He started his first round on a Friday and thought he had escaped the worst of the sideeffects.
“I can’t describe how bad you feel. I remember on the Saturday I wanted to get upstairs to bed but I was lying on the floor and I had absolutely no strength.”
Kevin described that despite living just a mile from Singleton Hospital every second of the journey left him in agony.
During the night nurses had to be called out as the drugs reacted with his body.
He was throwing up profusely in the bathroom as his young daughters, aged 11 and 14, stood crying.
“They were crying their eyes out asking whether Daddy was going to die.
“My wife was just incredible,” he said.
After his third bout of chemotherapy he had 35 sessions of radiotherapy which led to him losing his hair and being left with agonising mouth ulcers.
“We’ve all had ulcers, but you’ve never felt anything like this. Your whole tongue is an ulcer. You can’t drink or eat, you can’t swallow.
“That’s when my voice went,” he said.
He began using Post-it notes to THE winners of the 2017 Tenovus Volunteer awards:
Creative award: Angela Murray, Pembrey and Burry Port Friends of Tenovus group.
Boldest award: Kevin Bennett, Swansea Sing With Us.
Inspiring award: Gwyneth Davies, Llandeilo and Dinefwr Friends of Tenovus Cancer Care group.
Supportive award: Janet Braddick, warehouse volunteer.
Respect award: Lesley Willis, Wrexham Sing With Us choir.
Young Volunteer award: Megan Crombie-Davies, Bridgend Sing With Us choir.
Group Volunteer award: Barry Friends of Tenovus Cancer Care.
Overall winner: Kevin Bennett. communicate and then a friend who is a teacher gave him a whiteboard.
“My kids used to joke that they could tell when I was angry because my letters would get bigger. They said I was shouting through writing.”
He finished his treatment 9.21am on July 27, 2012.
His voice didn’t return until November that year.
When it did return it was gradual – first communicating through squeaks, then a whisper, before final- at ly being able to speak.
“When I did talk it was a different accent – it was my old accent,” he said.
Doctors and therapists were confident his voice would return but didn’t know when.
Since ending his treatment the side-effects have continued. He has almost permanent pins and needles, no saliva and has to wear hearing aids.
But despite all that he has raised just shy of £30,000 for Tenovus Cancer Care and on Thursday he was named their volunteer of the year.
Kevin has been a member of the Swansea Sing With Us choir, run the London Marathon, the Cardiff World Half Marathon and completed the charity’s annual Goodnight Walks. His first walk was in 2014. “I remember thinking back two years when I couldn’t walk two paces and then here I was doing 10 miles,” he said.
From that he has gone on to other huge events across the UK, all to give something back to the charity.
“I have been really lucky. I don’t look at cancer as an altogether bad life experience because it’s made me who I am now.”
At the awards on Thursday he was left in tears at what he described a “humbling” experience.
To donate to Kevin’s total visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ kevin-bennett11