I’ll keep on fighting to save others

Dec 17 2007 by David Higgerson, Liverpool Daily Post

In the first of 12 stories of people who have fought to overcome the odds, David Higgerson speaks to Stephen Roose-Jones, a man battling cancer while raising money to fight the illness

THEY are two of the happiest days of any family man’s life: the birth of a grandchild and the wedding of a son. But for Stephen Roose-Jones, 56, both events took on extra meaning.

They became something he was determined to see as he battled first bowel cancer, then tumours on his lungs.

First was the birth of granddaughter Erin in 2004. While daughter Emma, who works for Merseyside police, was giving birth, Stephen was undergoing surgery in his first fight against bowel cancer.

Anfield-born Stephen said: “When the nurse woke me up she said: ‘Wake up Granddad. At first, I thought she was being cheeky, but then she told me my first grandchild had been born while I was in theatre and I was now a grandfather.

“That was three years ago now, and every year on her birthday, I think to myself how lucky I am to have had another year of life.”

Stephen responded to his bowel cancer diagnosis by going to work for the St Mark’s Hospital Foundation in Middlesex, the leading European specialist hospital in colorectal disease.

Earlier this year, he developed a troublesome cough which led doctors to find cancerous tumours on his lungs.

A fresh course for radiotherapy began in November, and chemotherapy begins next month.

In between such intensive treatment, one of his sons, Elliott, got married.

“I was determined to get to that, so I made sure the treatment was fitted in around the wedding. As well as being among the happiest days of my life, these days also became milestones for me, events I was determined to enjoy and that is what happened,” said Stephen.

“When I have felt particularly low, or felt particularly unwell, knowing these events were coming up kept me going.”

If being hit by cancer twice - along with a secondary tumour shortly after the bowel cancer treatment - appears to be something of an injustice for anyone, let alone someone who has spent a decade of their life raising money for cancer charities, it certainly isn’t something that Stephen, who went to Anfield Road Primary School before attending the old Alsop Grammar School, has let get to him.

Within days of completing the radiotherapy, Stephen, whose father Jack Jones died of lung cancer 10 years ago, was behind his desk in London, determined to continue the fund-raising.

Stephen, married to Lorraine, said: “Despite the fact I would stand up in front of business people to appeal for funding, or speak at events and tell people that one in three people experience cancer, I never thought it would happen to me. Then I became part of that statistic.

“Working in fundraising for cancer charities means I can help make a difference in terms of the experience people have when they face cancer.

‘HERE at St Mark’s, we see people from across the UK, including Merseyside, who come here for very specialist treatment.

“The way they battle is an inspiration in itself. I’m lucky to have a job which allows me to raise money to help fund the work carried out by the experts we have here as they look for ways to beat bowel cancer.

“It’s inspiring just to work here, and I feel very lucky to have this job.”

Behind Stephen’s decision to speak out about his fight with cancer, particularly the bowel cancer, is the desire to make more people aware of the disease, and the need to seek help early.