‘Doctors gave me six months to live in 2016 but I continue to defy every expectation’ – Wales Online

When Mark Bryant began suffering with a bad back, he thought a few strong painkillers would sort it out. However, the pain got progressively worse to the point where he had to call for an ambulance.

A series of blood tests were carried out in hospital which discovered, to the dad-of-two's complete shock, that he was living with a rare form of blood cancer. "In that moment the world stopped," he said. "The thing that I was initially stressing out just didn't matter anymore. I was immediately into problem-solving mode."

Mark, from the seaside resort of Rhos on Sea, Conwy, said the moment he told his wife Fiona about his cancer remains "very raw". Just two years earlier, his own mother Elizabeth had died from the disease which he admitted allowed him to prepare for what was to come.

Read more:'We're seeing mums whose cancer has become untreatable because the NHS backlog is too big'

Recalling his diagnosis in June 2015, he added: "The reason why I wasn't in 'oh s***' mode at the time was because I was on morphine to numb the pain, and steroids which got me in remission. I then had two months of chemotherapy, which was very strong, and full-body radiotherapy."

Mark, who at this point was given just a 50% chance of survival, explained that the pain in his back was so severe due to his bone marrow being "overloaded with bad cells". He was then given a stem cell transplant from his brother Adam, but he relapsed in April 2016. "I have since discovered that my prognosis was considered terminal, with a life expectancy of six months, and the additional treatment I was offered was given with palliative intent," Mark added.

However, rather than accepting his fate Mark embarked on his own "healing journey" by trying to rebuild his immune system using immunotherapy, functional medicine and lifestyle medicine. In 2017 he travelled to Florida to receive his first round of privately-funded immunotherapy treatment which aimed to rebuild his "natural killer cell function".

He then decided to return for three more rounds, with each block lasting approximately six weeks. However he hasn't been back since 2018 due to increasing financial pressures. Most recent tests have shown that the cancer is still present in him. "I wish I could say I was fully healed but, unfortunately, I can't. It's like sleeping with a rattlesnake not knowing when it might strike again," he added.

But almost seven years on from his initial leukaemia diagnosis, Mark continues to defy doctors' expectations. He has now created the 'Terminal to Triathlon' project, has hosted his own podcasts on the subject and plans to complete the Ireland Ironman in August 2022 in 13 hours or less.

"I am approaching my healing journey and the ironman like a professional athlete is training for their gold medal in the Olympics. The only difference is my gold medal is my health and helping re-write the script for mainstream medicine, accelerating the switch from a reactive to proactive healthcare system," he said.

Mark's aim is to raise 500,000 on his GoFundMe page, with 60% of it going directly to help other cancer patients access complementary, alternative and rehabilitation services and programmes. Another 20% will go towards the running of the 'Terminal to Triathlon' project and the final 20% towards his continued research and treatment - which could include returning to Florida for further immunotherapy.

"The money is a drop in the ocean compared to the 5bn cancer costs the NHS in the UK. Whilst I fully support everything modern medicine can offer, unfortunately there are gaping holes in the system to properly support true healing," he said.

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'Doctors gave me six months to live in 2016 but I continue to defy every expectation' - Wales Online