Brave Andrew's bid to help other cancer sufferers

From the Bolton Evening News, first published Thursday 28th Apr 2005.

WHEN the 20-year-old son of Bolton Wanderers' chairman Phil Gartside was undergoing gruelling chemotherapy he made a brave decision - to create a charity to help other sufferers.

Now, Andrew Gartside who has just finished treatment for Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma has launched the charity CANtreat and has already had £100,000 pledged towards a £1 million pound target.

The money will be used initially to set up a dedicated chemotherapy unit at Halton Hospital in Cheshire, but Andrew hopes to help fund a similar unit in Bolton afterwards.

And in the Wanderers v Chelsea match programme on Saturday, the chairman thanks the many local people who have supported Andrew and the Gartside family during Andrew's illness and treatment.

"There were times when the football didn't matter," said Mr Gartside. "But Andrew has been just amazing throughout all this."

The problems began last year when Andrew, a student of management science at Loughborough University, started feeling unwell.

"I just put it down to the usual student thing - you know, too much beer and curry," he said. "But I couldn't shake it off. I had terrible stomach pain, and nothing seemed to touch it. I was at university in the week, then I'd come home at weekends and still feel bad."

Doctors diagnosed Irritable Bowel Sydrome, but medication failed to help. "I just felt sick all the time. I'm never ill. I play football, and I go to every Wanderers' match, of course. I kept having to say to my parents 'I'm not trying to get out of my studies', but I think my mum in particular knew that something was really wrong."

During this time, he had no appetite or energy and his weight dropped by two and a half stones. "We were very worried about him", said his father.

Hospital tests revealed a blockage in the bowel, and Andrew can remember the day that the word "cancer" was first used.

"It was December 18, the day of the match against Manchester City. I was staying at a friend's and wanted to know what was wrong so I rang my parents to get them to find out from the hospital. My mum rang back - she was very strong - and said ëit's cancer.í

"It was devastating. My first thought was 'I'm dead', but then I felt at least I knew what it was and I wanted to get on with the treatment."

In fact, Andrew joined his family at the match. "I've only missed one match this season," he said, smiling.

Non-Hodgkin's Lymphona affects the body's immune system and is rare in the bowel and at Andrew's age.

Examinations, including a painful bone marrow test, followed before Andrew could start his chemotherapy treatment, but first he had to undergo a four-hour operation in which four feet of bowel was removed. Through it all Andrew, his sister Beverley, aged 22, his mum Carole and his dad have remained a close, supportive unit. "My dad's my best friend," said Andrew. "He always has been, and I look up to him." As a family club, Bolton Wanderers has also got behind the Gartside family; club doctor Richard Freeman has been a particular ally in Andrew's cancer battle.

His treatment has been in the hands of oncology expert Mr Peter Clarke, who proved inspirational in what became an unexpected offshoot of Andrew's illness. For it was going for diagnostic tests at Clatterbridge Hospital on Merseyside, prior to six chemotherapy sessions at a BUPA hospital near Warrington, which made Andrew realise not only how lucky he had been but also how he could help.

"I started noticing a difference in the quality of the environment in which cancer treatment was being delivered. It made me realise that there is this lack of facilities for cancer patients. People of all ages looking like me - a classic cancer patient with no hair and pale, drawn face - some being very sick or coughing badly, in a place which felt like it was sucking the life out of you."

He realised that he could help change this. "I think I was lucky, too, in the way that I reacted to the drugs. I knew that I would feel a bit sick for the first week, a bit tired the second and would improve eventually for the next treatment a week or two later. But I knew that I wanted to help change that environment."

So, between treatments and with help from his family and people like family friend Chris Eyres, he worked to set up a new charity with the slogan "creating positive environments" to establish units more like the Macmillan centres - "a homely environment," he added.

Andrew insists that the charity is not all about him; he does not want to be seen as a modern hero. He is just a young man who had to endure a nasty illness, but who has learned from it. "Cancer does change you. You are a different person afterwards, whatever happens in the future. I'm glad I had it. I know that sounds strange but it has made me understand things I just wouldn't have before."

He has already made good contacts, with the help of his father and the club, and he and the other trustees have had talks with health officials and senior management from the North-west region about improving oncology centres.

The Halton Hospital will, hopefully, be the first to benefit from a fully functioning five-day a-week oncology unit.

Today, Andrew is back to being the lively, likeable young man with the positive outlook his family and friends know.

His health prospects lie in a 80-85 per cent cure rate. "I had wanted 99.9 per cent", he joked, "but there you are."

Many people have already pledged cash support to the charity and it is plain that it will become high profile and, if Andrew has anything to do with it, successful.

The first big event will be a trek from Khathmandu to the base camp of Mount Everest in the Himalayas in May, 2006.

In the meantime, Andrew is returning to being an ordinary young man. "I've had my first drink in six months," he gleefuly reported. And as for his shaven head, well, he might leave that "cool" look for the summer. "I'm just a bit worried about burning the top of my head though," he laughed.

And the cancer? "Just a speedbump in my life, I hope."

l To donate to the charity send cheques made payable to CANtreat ltd to: CANtreat ltd, Laurel Farm, Reedgate Lane, Crowley, Northwich, Cheshire CW9 6NT. To contact the charity, ring 01565-777369, email info@cantreat.co.uk or visit the website www.cantreat.co.uk

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