Buxton man tells cancer journey with new book

Alan Charnley was a healthy man who regularly ran marathons. Last year he started to lose weight rapidly and felt tired all the time so went to the GP.

Alan, from Buxton, said: “The doctor ran some tests and I was told I have cancer.

“It surprising how brave you can be when you have to be.

“The doctors and nurses and all the wonderful NHS staff were brilliant but I was very worried, I felt like I had information overload and couldn’t take everything in.”

He underwent radiotherapy and chemotherapy to shrink the tumours and then they operated.

He said: “I required a blood transfusion during the operation and was in critical

care afterwards.

“They told me if I didn’t have the treatment the cancer would kill me.”

Alan had previously been wary of all things medical, that fear dating back to childhood and bad experiences and was so pleased with how he coped with treatment he wrote a book with the intention of helping others who might be nervous or anxious about seeking medical treatment.

He said: “When you get news like cancer or another big life changing diagnosis you are handed lots of leaflets with lots of medical jargon in it which no one really understands.

“You look things up on the internet and are still none the wiser and there never seems to be anything from past patients who have gone through what you have gone through so I decided to write one myself and tell my story.”

His book Facing Surgery -Don’t be a Scaredy Cat is a lighthearted take on his treatment and the hospital way of life.

He said: “The book advises those fearful, as I figured I was, to seek early treatment.

“Those worriers may well discover during the course of their medical journeys, as I did, that they are much braver than they thought they were.”

He added: “Those who put off seeking medical treatment can leave it too late. If you have symptoms, get them checked out.”

The book is now available at the Buxton Trading Post.