Gary's story here;
"I started experiencing some mild symptoms mid-year, 2019. They were similar to
those that my Dad had about 2 years before he was diagnosed with exactly the same cancer as I now have. My father battled his symptoms having been wrongly
diagnosed many times. Once he was diagnosed, he was given 3 months to live; he
subsequently went through 6 months of chemo and continued his battle for a further
2 years. I first went to the Doctor in May 20, telling him ‘I think I have cancer
because….’ He told me I was wrong, but he would put me out for tests
(gastroscopy).
A week later I still had heard nothing, so I called the Doctor again, this time he told
me that I was on a 3-4 month waiting list for the procedure. I did not accept that and
emailed him directly informing him of my exact symptoms by bullet point. I was in for
the gastroscopy a week later. They found 11 tumours, 4 at 3cm in length, malignant
in appearance in my oesophagus and a further 7 small er 3-5mm in my stomach;
they took biopsies of all tumours I was subsequently put in for a CT scan within 2
weeks from which I had the results within 2 weeks. All tumours malignant, Stage 4,
inoperable cancer with the offer of palliative care only. This was on 16 th July 2020.
Almost immediately we decided that this was a fight that I had to take head on, that this was the only way to act, be fit to fight.
If I could turn the clock back, I would have chased the Doctors at initial onset of symptoms, regardless of how mild.
I started my fitness campaign purely because fitness is my life outside family and work, and I decided that I would need to be as fit as I possibly could be to get through this and although the disease had already started to restrict what I could or could not do!
I am a CrossFit enthusiast and an instructor. So far, my friends in CrossFit gyms in
Australia, USA and Scotland have taken on the ‘Gazman 50’. After the first month of
posting my videos on Face Book an old friend in Australia coined the workout
Gazman 50, this then grew into three different CrossFit gyms in South Australia and
doing all 30 days of exercises that I had posted so far and did them all back-to-back
to help me raise money for Abbie’s Sparkle Foundation. This has now been
repeated by a number of CrossFit gyms in the UK."
Gazman 50
For time
50 Squats
50 Push ups
50 Hands to knees sit ups
50 Alternating forward lunges - 25 each side
50 Glute raises
50 Thrusters (with whatever you want)
50 Alternating hand touch Russian Twists - 25 each side
50 Squats
50 Push ups
50 Alternating side crunches - 25 each side
50 Alternating forward lunges - 25 each side
25 Hollow snaps + 25 Superman snaps
50 Turkish get ups - 25 each side (with whatever you want)
50 Squats
50 Push ups
50 Alternating forward lunges - 25 each side
50 Hands to knees sit ups
As the second part of the interview I asked Gary what his main "Hakx" or tips would be ;
I asked Gary "Got any advice for people out there?"
Gary's response : "My advice to anyone out there that has a symptom that they don’t recognise as a normal cold, flue, migraine etc., etc., is to go to your Doctor and get tested. No matter what they say, fight your corner and don’t just accept ‘first-hand’ what they say. I
have since had multiple friends tell me that they have now been to their Doctors
having initial diagnoses of lesser ailments that have now been diagnosed with more
serious conditions."
He also told us on the video "Find something, write, exercise, whatever, to help get you out of the dark places and through the worst times."
To see the interview click here
Audio Podcast here
Gary Bandford's Youtube here
Social Media
Email: garybanford@hotmail.com
Twitter: @gary_banford
Instagram: gary_banford
Facebook: Gary Banford
YouTube: Gary’s Fight Against Cancer
Links to charities:
