A FATHER is set to take on a huge challenge with the support of his son's under 8's football team to raise money for the hospital staff who saved his life.
Christian Smyth underwent major surgery for mouth cancer five years ago.
Now, to celebrate his 40th birthday he is fundraising for University Hospitals Dorset NHS Charity to give back to the team at Poole Hospital who helped save his life.
Christian also lives with Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC). Christian said: “Everything I have had has been pretty much found by accident, I was complaining about a sore throat, and I went to see a doctor and they ran some blood tests. They uncovered my liver readings were off the chart."
"They then ran some tests and diagnosed me with PSC, a chronic liver disease. After this I had frequent checks because it is known as being a progressive liver disease, there is no cure for it but thankfully for me thing on the PSC side has remained fairly stable."
"I was very lucky because I had been on the radar after my PSC diagnosis which meant I received regular check-ups."
In July 2017, when Christian was 35, he was diagnosed with mouth cancer by Atul Kusanale and his Maxillofacial team at Poole Hospital.
Christian said: “If it wasn’t for Atul pushing me back to have additional biopsies, then I wouldn’t have been detected as early and quickly and that early detection gave me the best chance when they came to do surgery. He almost feels like family to me in a way, the personable level of care that he has provided me with means an awful lot.
“I am a football coach now and one of the boys I coach his mum is a nurse who looked after me when I was in critical care.”
“I have around 10 confirmed boys from my squad helping to join me in the fundraising race. I am going to be doing a 20k run and a 20k kayak and the kids are going to be doing it in the form of a relay."
"So each child will run from Bournemouth pier to Boscombe pier then kayak back with me before taking over to their teammate and we will carry on till we hit the 40k distance.”
Click the link to donate or to find out more about Christian's fundraiser: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/christchurchu8s-pier2pier-relay-uhd
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here