Getting Cancer at 27

Towards the end of 2017, I had been struggling with hip and lower back pain, for which I had been going to the physio on and off for about four months. On February 4th, I played a full 18 holes at Worcester Country Club, breaking 100 for the first time! Little did I know, everything was about to change.

Back at the physio the next day, we decided that the treatment of what we suspected to be a pinched femoral nerve wasn’t really getting any better, so she decided to refer me to a sports physician, whom I saw the next day. Following the physical exam, she couldn’t identify anything physically wrong and sent me for an MRI. I remember the call as if it happened yesterday.

“You need to stop what you are doing and come and see me immediately”. Never a good call to take, especially when it's from a doctor.

The MRI showed multiple lesions on the bone running through the hip, the femur and the spine. At this point, the cause of the lesions was unknown, but I was to go and see an Internist at the Cape Gate Medi Clinic. This was Friday, hard to think I had been on the golf course on Sunday! The internist told me that they were unsure exactly what was causing the lesions but that I should take some time this weekend to gather myself and my thoughts and report back to the hospital for further testing, starting on Monday. Oh how things can change in a week!

I was admitted to the hospital on Sunday evening, 11 February, 2018. From here I went through a bank of blood tests, x-rays, a bone scan and various other bits and bobs. It was found that the lesions on my bones were severe and were spread out from the tops of the legs, hips and lower back, through the spine, up into the shoulder blades, collarbone, chest, upper right arm, the neck and the skull.

In order to clear up the worst of the lesions, I underwent a full right hip replacement on Thursday, 15 February. From here a biopsy of the femur that they had removed during the surgery was sent for further analysis. On 20 February, the cancer was classified as a B-Cell Lymphoma and I was admitted to the Kuilsriver Netcare, where I met my Haematologist. We completed some more blood tests and I went for a small operation to have a port implanted just below the collarbone on the left side of my chest. Following this, I had a Electro Cardio Gram and a Sonar to test the health of the heart. Finally, a manual biopsy was done to analyze a segment of the right side of the hip to see how far the cancer had spread.

After a delay at the biopsy lab in order to fully and finally classify the cancer as a Diffuse, Large, B-Cell Lymphoma, I started chemotherapy on March 5th, 2018. From here I would have 6 different Chemo sessions, which involved checking in to the hospital on Sunday evening and starting 4 continuous 24 hour infusions, which would run through to Friday afternoon. Once this was done, I was discharged and allowed to go home for two weeks, of which the first week would involve fierce pain, terrible bathroom habits, sleeping up to 18 hours a day and just generally recovering from a process that is trying to kill everything in your body (both good and bad) in order to get rid of the cancer. Then I would have about a week of feeling okay and being able to live fairly normally and recovering just enough that they can punish your body again.

This process continued fairly routinely, between chemo rounds 4 and 5, I picked up a fairly standard flu infection, which quickly escalated to double pneumonia and had me in hospital for a week on IV antibiotics. Following this, we resumed the treatment schedule and went for a PET CT Scan at Tygerberg Hospital, which was an experience in and of itself, but the less said about that hospital, the better. The PET Scan showed that the Chemo was in fact killing off the cancer and that it was working.

Following the conclusion of the chemo and two rounds of immunotherapy, I was able to focus on getting healthy and back to normal life. Following the hip replacement and the chemo, I had to take some time to learn how to properly walk again, and how to ride a bike again. I spent 60 sessions working with the biokineticist to get mobility, strength and confidence back in the right hand side of my body.

So… if you were wondering where my motivation comes from for wanting to help people figure out what they want to do with their life, here it is.

Since completing chemo, I have been able to live a very normal life and I am completely recovered and healthy. I have been blessed with an amazing wife and a lovely (and chonky) son. There are long term side effects from the whole process, but I take them over not being able to live life fully, any day of the week.

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