Stephan Lewis, 37, was given the diagnosis five months after getting married
Stephan Lewis, 37, with son Connor(Image: Supplied)
A dad was given just weeks to live after his back began to ache. Dad-of-two Stephan Lewis, 37, from the Wirral, began experiencing pain in his back in November, and was last week told that nothing more could be done.
His family has launched a desperate fight to save him as they explore treatment abroad. Landscape gardener Stephan, known to loved ones as Steph, initially put the pain down to gallstones.
But scans showed a mass on his pancreas, and Steph was diagnosed with cancer just days before Christmas and only five months after marrying long-term partner Chantelle Gordon-Lewis, 35.
Steph underwent surgery at the Royal Liverpool Hospital to have the tumour removed along with part of his pancreas.
Steph’s sister-in-law, Danni Gordon, 30, told the ECHO: “It was a massive operation—he had to have his stomach reconstructed— but in true Steph style, he had it done and was out after a week
“He bounced back, determined to get out for his kids at Christmas”.
Steph was allowed back home to his family in Ellesmere Port for Christmas, and was preparing for further treatment on December 29. However, he became ill on Christmas Day and his condition worsened on Boxing Day before he was called back into hospital.
Steph, dad to Connor, 11, and Isabella, 4, had developed Trousseau syndrome, where the body produces blood clots in response to the cancer. After several spells in hospital, Steph began chemotherapy in February at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre.
“Staff at Clatterbridge were confident it was working,” Danni said, adding: “Then it was his birthday, he turned 37 last week, and a day later he started to develop jaundice again. He had another scan done, and he was told on Friday May 8—Chantelle’s birthday—that the cancer had spread to his liver.
“He’s been told there’s nothing they can do. I just don’t believe that this is it.
Danni said: “I’ve been liaising with specialists in Germany and Portugal to get this second opinion because this can’t be it. Everybody who knows Steph knows he bounces back with everything, in true Steph style, so we’re just not giving up.”
An appeal set up by the family had raised more than £20,000 as of Saturday afternoon. Danni said: “I’m just trying to cling onto everything just to get a bit of hope for him, because he deserves it.”
Danni added: “He is absolutely wild, crazy, and the life and soul of the party.
“He’s so hands-on with the kids, they idolise him, they absolutely adore him. He’s just so determined, so ambitious.”
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