When doctors in Finland told Andy Langdon there wasn’t anything they could do about his life-threatening cancer he knew that, at just 46-years-old, he was not willing to give up the fight.
So when friends told him of a Nottinghamshire surgeon who could possibly help to save his life, the father-of-four knew he had to get in touch
And after meeting with consultant surgeon Iain Cameron at BMI Park Hospital, in Nottingham, he was convinced that is best hope was to return to England and undergo a major operation.
“Experts in Finland had told me it wasn’t possible to operate and said I had probably only two years to live – the goal seemed to be treatment not cure. It took just one meeting with Iain to realise that I did have a fighting chance and I was determined to take it.”
Andy, who grew up in Portsmouth, moved to Finland over 20 years ago when he married his Finnish wife Sari. The couple have four boys and Andy says he has never had a reason to question the country’s health facilities.
“They have experts in many fields and the health system as a whole is very good but they just didn’t have anyone with the expertise to help me… that’s where Iain came in.
“From our first meeting to me finally getting the all-clear just months ago Iain has been unbelievable. His commitment, consideration and sense of humour helped me through the darkest of times it’s down to him that I here today,” said Andy.
In a nine-hour operation at the private BMI hospital Mr Cameron removed an 18cm tumour from Mr Langdon’s pancreas and also removed his spleen, which was stuck to the tumour.
Afterwards the consultant surgeon said: “That was the biggest pancreatic tumour I have ever removed. I thought that some of the stomach would have to be removed as well but we managed to peel the tumour away.
It was good to be able to help Andy and is really special to see him make such a great recovery.”
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