Dad given just 12 months to live after detecting warning signs while eating a sandwich

A father is being given just 12 months to live after noticing a warning sign while attempting to eat a bacon and sausage sandwich at work.

Des Longstaff, 39, of Blackpool, has advanced stage 4 oesophageal adenocarcinoma, an aggressive cancer of the food pipe that has spread to his liver.

He has been told he is terminal and has an estimated life expectancy of 12 months, which the landscaping contractor hopes to extend so he can spend more valuable time with his five-year-old son, BristolLive reported.

I’m a landscaper by trade, and I was performing a job for one of my pals when his partner cooked me a bacon and sausage sandwich’, he explained.  “When I was eating it – I hadn’t put any sauce on it – it kind of got caught in my oesophagus, and I had a good pint of water, but it still wouldn’t move.

“It felt like you were suffocating.  I wondered, ‘Am I not eating it properly?'”

Concerned, Des went to the doctor, who advised an endoscopy, but before that could happen, he vomited blood and subsequently discovered blood in his stool. On Christmas Eve, a 35cm tumour in his lower esophageal was discovered and he was promptly sent to the hospital.

Des hoped to have keyhole surgery to remove the tumour.  However, a second scan indicated that the disease has spread to his liver, so his options are restricted.

According to Cancer Research UK, it is typically incurable, therefore Des is exploring several options to extend his life.

Des has now begun immunotherapy treatment, which will teach his white blood cells to target the malignancy.  He is also receiving a modest kind of chemotherapy.

“It is palliative and it is to keep me comfortable so I don’t die straight away,” he stated.  “I was unable to knock it back.  In order to prevent the cancer from spreading, it is necessary to take action.  I only have a year to live, according to the NHS.

However, there is a glimmer of hope for Des, as Tracy, his mother, has stepped in.  To gather the necessary funds to bring her kid to Germany to investigate novel therapies, she has created a GoFundMe campaign. According to her: “Des is unable to work and won’t be able to for the foreseeable future, we are investigating new treatments in Germany to give Des the best chance of a 5 year plus life expectancy.”

The website has already raised over £31,000, and Des explained the ten-day operation, which cost €52,000 (about £43,000), saying, “In Germany, they have a completely different perspective.  They have one of the greatest treatment regimens out there, and there is no such thing as terminal.

“If you are terminal, you are full of it, but I am not.  It has remained confined, and I currently have two little spots that will grow into tumours if I am not cautious.

“So the plan is to fly to Germany, where they will target the liver. It is essentially an injection into my liver that will provide the largest amount of chemotherapy while just targeting those two spots. They will cut off the major artery to the primary tumour in my oesophagus and let it die for five days.

“They will then cut it out and scrape around my diaphragm as well as my stomach lining but they are going to build the stomach lining up by putting mesh around it basically.”

“It is my only hope to see my 5-year old boy grow up,” Des remarked, acknowledging that it was his last opportunity and thanked everyone who had donated so generously thus far. He is my favourite person.