John Robertson was a fit, healthy glazier, a father of three who had never had a serious health scare. Then food started getting stuck in his throat.
At first, the 35-year-old from Ayr would bring it back up to clear the blockage. But by April he had lost three stone in two and a half months and was suffering unbearable chest pain – “like a heart attack”, he later said.
“Fit father-of-three John Robertson, 35, given nine months to live after terminal cancer diagnosed when food got stuck”
He went to his GP and was fast-tracked for an endoscopy. On the screen, he saw a pool of blood in his throat. “The doctor’s face dropped,” Robertson recalled. “I was so panicked.”
The scan revealed a tumour covering about 75 per cent of his oesophagus, which had already spread to his lungs, throat, right adrenal gland and liver. Last month, he was diagnosed with stage four oesophageal adenocarcinoma – a rare cancer of the glandular cells. Doctors told him he had potentially been carrying the tumour for years and that it was unlikely to have been caught earlier because symptoms appear late. He has been given nine months to live.
“It was the most devastating, world-crushing news,” Robertson said. “My world fell apart. My kids don’t deserve to lose their dad so young. I want to watch them grow up and guide them through life.”
His children are Jorja, 15, Paris-Cole, eight, and Clay-Ty, four. He has been with his wife Nicole, 29, for 11 years. “To know I might not be here to walk my daughters down the aisle or watch my son grow into the gentleman he is already becoming is heartbreaking,” he said. “I don’t want them to remember me as ill. They’ve already seen enough. A future with my wife has been stolen from me.”
Robertson, who now lives on an all-liquid diet and is due to begin chemotherapy – with a feeding tube a possibility – described his bewilderment at appearing healthy while dying. “I don’t understand how I’m dying but look the picture of health. I refuse to believe that my time is almost over.”
Doctors told him he would “look like this until the end except a bit paler and thinner”, and that his bloods, liver function and heart rate remain good. But the tumour has already spread relentlessly. His wife and children are now “trying to cram a lifetime of experiences into a few months.”