Richard was diagnosed with Bowel Cancer (age 38) in January 2012 and operated on in February just a month later.  All went well in Princess of Wales Hospital - Bridgend, they removed the Polyp that turned out to be cancerous along with part of his lower bowel and reconnected. HeI didn't need any follow-up treatment or chemotherapy as it was very early stages, so for that he´s lucky.

Richard was discharged after 2 weeks to recover, but after a short weekend at home he developed complications. His bowel had torn and after a call to the Doctors they called an ambulance immediately as his symptoms pointed towards Septicaemia.  This was confirmed on arrival at A & E and operated on immediately.

His memory of what happened next is vague and he woke up 12 days later in Intensive Care, tube down throat and on a ventilator.  Doctors said he was lucky to pull through and it was very much touch and go!  Because of the complications and everything being infected, they had to leave him with a temporary Stoma which he still has.

He was told that because of what happened he would need to wait a minimum of 12 months for everything to heal properly before they would consider the reversal. He spent a further 6 weeks in hospital as he needed physio to learn to walk again, the length of time he spent in Intensive care meant he had lost approximately 3 stone and his muscles had wasted.  When he eventually returned home, he was MRSA swabbed which came back positive, and this has now left him with a hideous scar on his abdomen where they had to cut through the stomach wall, and a massive hernia where everything just looks out of place and his entire stomach just sags.

None of his clothes fit properly, he became severely depressed and experienced anxiety when leaving home.  Its been a pretty rough ride, but he is still thankful to be here to tell the tale!  

Anyway, thats the short of what happened, its now 2 years and 3 months since the original surgery and still waiting for the reversal and at the point of just giving up now.  Not sure how much more he can take, and turned 41 yesterday which hit home pretty hard as he has lost almost 3 years of his life.

Richard met his consultant last May 2013 where he was told he needed to lose weight for them to carry out the surgery. He had ballooned to 16 stone as he was on steroids for a sinus problem which is now resolved, and depressed because of what happened, so just piled on the pounds. He made every effort to lose the weight needed ASAP and lost 3 1/2 stone (22 Kilos) between May and September by eating properly and excersize.

Richard then called his consultant to inform them to which they were satisfied and said that they would be in touch.  Christmas came and went, and finally had a call in January this year (2014) to have pre-assessment as they had a date the following week.  Pre-assessment was fine, but swabs taken in his nose came back MRSA positive so they had to cancel everything!

He had to take antibiotics, and 3 x clear tests which he has done since, but unfortunately lost the slot. He is now 4 months on, with no movement, He visited my GP and broke down, as its all got on top of him now and this is totally unreasonable to have to wait this long!

Richard´s GP has written to his consultant, but it seems to have done nothing.  Every time he calls and speaks to her secretary he is told his consultant is either on holiday, or they have no space and have to give priority to new cancer patients, call next month! And so its goes on like this for Richard, and has done for the past 18 months now.

From what he has been told, the surgery they plan to do involves the stoma reveral, along with repair of the hernia, and placing a mesh to protect his stomach wall and support everything, so will do it all at the same time.  Because of this, his Surgeon needs to take an entire day out of their schedule to get it done, 

Whilst he understands that new cancer patients would get priority, given the above explanation, we dont think he is being unreasonable thinking that 2 1/2 years almost is way over the top to have to wait to get on with his life?

We have done our research and found a Surgeon in Spain who has read his notes and can do his Operation in July or August privately, but the operational cost is €10,000 and additional funds will be needed for his aftercare.

If you can help Richard then please please help. Thanks so much for reading