Clydebank man defies odds after being given a year to live
Stephen Maxwell received the devastating news in 2023, just months after being diagnosed with melanoma, a type of skin cancer.
Now, 18 months on, the 58-year-old was on cloud nine as he saw his beloved Clydebank Football Club lift the West of Scotland Premier Division cup at Holm Park on Saturday.
This was something Stephen said he wasn't sure he would see.
(Image: Stephen Maxwell)
Stephen also revealed that despite his diagnosis and undergoing treatment, he never missed a single Bankies game in the past year.
He said: 'It's the only thing I haven't missed out on. I've gone to every game because it's only down the road from me.
'We won the league this year for the first time in 21 years. It was brilliant. That was my Saturday outing, down to watch the Bankies.
'At the beginning of the season, we started off good, but I thought 'I'm not going to be here at the end'.
'I made it and it was absolutely amazing. I got the match ball signed from the first game between Drumchapel and Clydebank in the league.'
The Duntocher resident explained how he discovered that he had skin cancer.
In 2021, Stephen went to the doctors after his mum found a lump which looked a bit like a mole on his back.
The Bankies fan was told that it was benign however, the lump grew over the next two and a half years, eventually bursting and forcing Stephen to have it checked again.
Shortly after arriving at his GP, he was rushed to West Glasgow Ambulatory Care Hospital at Yorkhill before undergoing immediate surgery to remove the tumour, which was said to be 'the size of his fist'.
(Image: Stephen Maxwell)
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Stephen said: 'I was sent to a specialist in Glasgow in 2021, and he took one look at it and said, 'it's benign, it'll fall off'.
'I left it at that, but as time went on, it got bigger and bigger and burst a couple of times. The very last time it burst, I had to phone my brother to come down.
'I was sent to the hospital at Yorkhill, and the doctor immediately phoned the surgeon. It took two and a half hours.
'The tumour was the size of my hand and I thought 'my god this is worse than I thought'.
"They only took the tumour out, the cancer was still there, and I needed more operations.
'I underwent immunotherapy, and within three months, I was told it had not worked and it had spread to my bones.
'I was basically put out to pasture. I was told I had six to twelve months to live, it was devastating.
'It just knocked me off my feet.'
After this appointment, Stephen said he began to 'sort out his affairs'.
However, he would get a phone call in Spring 2024 from a doctor at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre that would change his life.
(Image: Stephen Maxwell)
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Stephen added: 'I came home and got my affairs in order. That was it, and I just lay in my bed. Then I got a call from Doctor Tan at the Beatson.
'She said I'd been accepted for this new trial, would I like to come the next day and get the medication?
'I thought, 'brilliant, of course I will'. I had been booked to go into a hospice just days later.
"After getting the stuff, I went to my bed and I literally bounced out of bed in the morning.
'I was put on a drug called Opdualag as well as steroids, and I just had the best six months of my life after that.
'I did everything I wanted to do. I had a great summer, and in the winter I said cheerio to all my friends at the clubs I go to.
'I thought that was me, this was it. That was when they'd said I was going to die, but then I didn't die. I'm still on steroids now, and I've started to go back to some of my wee clubs.
'I was the first person in Scotland to be put on that trial, and the greatest thing about it was that most people were only getting three or four months before they had to come off it, whereas I got eight months.
'I can't complain. The cancer is still in my bones but hasn't spread anywhere else.'
Melanoma Focus, a charity that funds research into treatments and causes of the illness, say that the rates of this form of skin cancer are climbing in the UK, with around 17,500 new cases every year.
Melanoma is considered the most serious form of skin cancer as it reportedly has the highest mortality rate.
For further information, visit the charity's website HERE.
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