A DAD-OF-THREE from Gawber who was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer just before Christmas is set to fly out to Germany next month for crucial treatment - and although it’s not a cure he says it’s a real lifeline that will help him spend more time with his children.
Andrew Hirst was an otherwise fit and healthy man before his diagnosis - running the Parkrun with his kids every weekend, rarely drinking and having never smoked.
But in November the 36-year-old began to experience severe headaches and fatigue.
After pushing through for over a week he rang 111 and within an hour was rushed to Kingsmill Hospital in Sutton-in-Ashfield, near to where he now lives, with a ‘dangerously high’ 42C temperature and severe sensitivity to light.
He was then diagnosed with glioblastoma - the most aggressive and most common type of cancer that originates in the brain.
Andrew is set to fly to Germany on September 21 after a fundraiser surpassed the £100,000 mark - but he was dealt a cruel blow earlier this month.
He told the Chronicle: “It’s been a rollercoaster.
“One minute I’ve been fine in a sense and the next minute I’m struggling to get out of bed.
“We weren’t expecting the news at the last scan that it had doubled in size.
“This means that potentially I won’t be well enough for treatment in Germany this October, unless I do something to try and halt the growth of the tumour.
“Despite my previous reservations, I have made the difficult decision to begin double-strength chemotherapy to try and buy more time.”
Andrew says that although he knows the treatment in Germany isn’t a cure for the tumour, it’s a real lifeline - and he’s spoken with people who have undergone the same treatment and are still living their daily lives six years later.
He added: “It’s a peptide vaccine so they’ve got the tumour and analysed it and they’ve got my blood.
“From that they’re using my immune system to see what will kill the tumour and they’ll mix that with my blood and inject that into me.
“I know that it’s not necessarily going to be a cure but from what I’ve heard from other people who have had this treatment is that they’re six years on and there’s no traces.
“It won’t be a complete cure - far from it - but from being told in November to ‘enjoy your last Christmas’ is a real game changer.”
Andrew’s set to return to the town this weekend for Barnsley’s game against Huddersfield Town - and he’s keen to still keep making memories with his family.
And he says he’s been left overwhelmed with the amount of money that has been raised for him so far.
He added: “It completely blown me away because I’ve always been really private.
“I don’t really bang my drum in that sense but so much has been raised.
“I just want to create more memories.
“When my lungs are on fire from the chemo and I’m chucking my guts up and waking up in the middle of the night to be sick, it’s those moments with my family that get me through it.
“It’s only a short amount of time so you’ve just got to keep going.”
