Paralysed cricketer’s battle to get 'perfect life' back after rare spinal tumour
After losing the use of his legs during surgery on a rare spinal tumour, former Wolverhampton cricket captain Adam Cuthbert is fighting to return to his 'perfect life'.
"You don't realise how perfect everything is until life just flips."
Adam Cuthbert talks with heartbreaking clarity about life six months after becoming paralysed from the waist down following surgery on a rare spinal tumour.
At the start of last year, the fun-loving former captain of Wolverhampton Cricket Club was riding high, engaged to his childhood sweetheart Katie-Jo Flynn, newly promoted at work and enjoying a full social life.
Friends described him as the 'life and soul' of every party, always first on the dance floor and loudest on the karaoke. Then one morning he woke with pain and tingling in his legs.
The problem turned out to be a low-grade tumour, the most common of spinal tumours, a shock but nothing to panic about, and most of it was subsequently removed in surgery. However, after eight months the tumour returned and Adam underwent two more spinal surgeries.
The growth had developed into a high-grade tumour, a type normally found only in the brain. The final surgery, much less risky than the previous two, caused him to lose the use of both his legs. The couple, whose hopes had been high after he came through the first two operations stronger than expected, were devastated.
Further treatment has failed and doctors had to break the news that the tumour continues to grow and could spread to the rest of his body.
They quickly had to find a new wheelchair-accessible flat with space for the physiotherapy equipment they rent to keep Adam's muscles from wasting, and come to terms with the new reality they found themselves in.
Incredibly, he continues to work and has nothing but praise for his employers, Speakers Corner, an international speakers' booking bureau, although now he works from home.
The 31-year-old from Tettenhall said: "My world has been turned upside down. We've had to postpone the wedding, then bring it forward, move house, it's all been a massive shock to the system. It's hard to walk into hospital and come out in a wheelchair.
"Life had been going great, I'd just been promoted at work, so had Katie-Jo, we were getting married, Looking back, I never wanted to want to win the lottery, I just want that life back again."
Doctors say finding a cure is proving difficult as the growth is so rare. But his enterprising fiance refuses to accept defeat and has just launched a global campaign to discover a form of treatment that will help him.
The 30-year-old PR executive has taken a break from her job to devote every minute to scouring the internet, firing off emails to anyone who might be able to give them hope.
She said: "Adam's had a lot of setbacks in fighting this illness but he's an incredible human being. I refuse to believe there isn't someone out there in the world who can help him."
The couple are desperately searching for a doctor who can help them find a treatment to control the tumour as conventional procedures such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy have not been successful.
In the meantime, a £30,000 crowdfunding campaign has been launched to help pay for alternative treatment.
The pair, who met at Wolverhampton Grammar School, postponed their August wedding in Tixall, near Shugborough, because Adam had wanted to walk down the aisle.
Now they are tying the knot in a quiet registry office wedding in London where they now live. "I couldn't justify spending all that money on marquees and catering when we need to pay for treatment for Adam," said Katie-Jo.
His story has touched friends and former playing colleagues who raised half the cash in less than a week.
Wolverhampton Cricket Club has urged members to 'dig deep' and plans to hold a number of fundraisers. Club captain Mike Smith, 43, said: "He's a really good friend, a larger than life character.
"He captained one of our teams and was known for his enthusiasm. I'm sure he has tough days but he is throwing himself into beating this illness in the way I would expect him to."
Their original fundraising target of £15,000 was smashed in just five days. The money is helping to pay for hyperbaric oxygen therapy, neurological activity-based rehabilitation, physiotherapy and private clinic consultations to identify alternative routes to a cure.
Adam, known as Cuthy, says: "We're cracking on. Katie-Jo has been amazing, researching different treatment options. You have to educate yourself about the treatments and keep pushing the doctors as best you can. After the first couple of surgeries, it was all about rehab and trying to walk again, now it's about trying to beat the tumour.
"We have a cry and a bit of a whinge now and again but mostly we're focused and positive. People I haven't spoken to for years have come forward with £10 or £50, and that part's been great."
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