Michael's story

Mike had a GIST eventually diagnosed in March 2022...

He had a large tumour in the upper part of his stomach and was eventually commenced on imatinib with the plan to attempt to reduce the size of the tumour before surgery could be attempted.

Luckily this was successful and he had a very positive reduction in the tumour size...

14 months later (May 2023) he had a total gastrectomy, splenectomy and a ‘shave ‘ of his diaphragm. Post operatively he was quite unwell and had a leak in the anastomosis, leading to more procedures and a near month long stay in hospital.

Mike's doing well in his recovery now but it’s not without its challenges. He’s monitored by an oncologist and Surgeon at The QE hospital in Birmingham ,usually every 3 months and continues his imatinib. I write all this to give context for my email in that he would be happy to share his story if you think it would be appropriate.

He’s an incredibly positive person and has dealt with all of this really well. There’s been hiccups along the way and at times myself, speaking as a trained Nurse, and our eldest daughter who is now a junior doctor have had to challenge a few things - something we don’t like doing, but occasionally we  needed to be his advocate or help him navigate the complexities of the NHS.

I think his story may be of interest to some - Mike’s about to be 63 years young and still working full time...

He’s trying to be as active as possible and enjoys the great outdoors. He has set himself a challenge to walk the South West Coast Path when he’s well enough and built up his stamina and is keen to do it for charity, possibly GIST UK.