A RESILIENT Rugby dad who needed life-saving surgery to rebuild his face is calling on people to Stand Up To Cancer this autumn.
Andrew Steele endured nearly a year of treatment for stage four head and neck cancer, including a 12-hour operation to remove his left jawbone and replace it with bone from his leg.
Despite an ongoing battle with chronic pain, Andrew is supporting Stand Up To Cancer – a joint fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4.
Andrew, who has two children – Ant, 15, and April, 12 – said: “When I was diagnosed my first fear was that I wasn’t going to see my kids grow up. It felt like going down a dark corridor all on my own not knowing where it was leading.
“Thanks to research, I’m still standing but it’s been a long and difficult road. All I want to do now is raise awareness and funds to make sure other people don’t have to go through the same thing.”
Andrew was diagnosed with head and neck cancer in April 2021.
He said: “As soon as the consultant saw the inside of my mouth he said ‘it’s cancer’, which was a huge shock. I phoned my wife to come and collect me and we sat in the car and cried.”
In June, he underwent major surgery to remove his left jawbone and replace it with the fibula bone from his left leg.
And in August, Andrew began chemotherapy alongside 33 sessions of radiotherapy which involved having his head bolted to the table using a specially made mask.
“I had to have a plastic face mask fitted for radiotherapy which I found quite traumatic due to my claustrophobia,” Andrew said. “Several weeks into the radiotherapy I had my second dose of chemotherapy which made me quite sick and caused my face to swell. I had to spend five days in hospital but still had to continue daily radiotherapy with my face swollen.
“It was a lot to cope with but, without that treatment, I wouldn’t be here today so I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who kept me alive.”
Andrew said he was supporting the Stand Up To Cancer campaign to help support research into ‘kinder, quicker and more effective treatments’ – such as a pioneering project at the University of Birmingham to develop a flavoured lollipop that could detect mouth cancer earlier and avoid the need for ‘brutal and painful’ biopsy procedures like the one he had to endure.
“The thought that you might be able to bypass that whole procedure and get a much quicker appointment to suck on a lollipop instead is brilliant,” he added.
Since returning to his job as imports manager for Bunzl Catering Supplies, he has enlisted colleagues to help raise more than £8,867 for Cancer Research UK so far.
Now he’s calling on gym bunnies and sofa surfers alike to flex their fundraising muscles by taking part in Stand Up To Cancer’s 100 squats a day challenge this November.
Visit www.su2c.org.uk/get-involved to take part, donate or fund-raise.
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