Hi. I’m Dougie, a 59-year-old retired GP from South Lincolnshire, though originally from Edinburgh. I had a sub-acute small bowel obstruction and underwent an ileal resection just before the Covid lockdown in March 2020. Histology showed a Grade 2 NET.
Over the subsequent months, I had numerous trips to Peterborough and Royal Free hospitals for scans and tests. This was a very weird time as I was often the only passenger on the train to London. Initially, the tests were all negative, however, MRI in December 2020 showed liver metastases and I was started on monthly Lanreotide injections. These kept things stable until Summer 2022 when increased growth was found.
I commenced PRRT in July 2022 and completed four treatments by February 2023. Thankfully my follow-up MRI scan showed stability. I’ve had minimal side-effects from the treatments although I do tend to squeal and swear a bit when I have the Lanreotide injection. Thirty-plus years of sticking needles into patients doesn’t seem to have helped me when I’m the one on the receiving end!
Despite dealing with many hundreds of cancer patients in my career, I saw very few with neuroendocrine cancer. In the early days after my diagnosis, I found the information available on the NCUK (Neuroendocrine Cancer UK) site an extremely valuable resource. I would now like to do my bit to raise funds for the charity, especially as I’m feeling fit and well at the moment.
The Neuroendocrine UK Virtual Pathway Challenge appealed to me as I was a medical student in Aberdeen where the challenge started and the final walk is in Coventry where my son, Rory, now lives and works.
My wife, Trish, and I plan to travel, in the words of The Proclaimers, 500 miles and 500 more before 10 November. We will be pounding the exercise bikes every morning and combining this with regular walks to hopefully exceed our target.
Good Luck to all my fellow fundraisers and a huge thank you to everyone who has donated to this worthy cause.
Dougie Burgess
You can sponsor Dougie here: https://neuroendocrinecanceruk.enthuse.com/pf/dougie-s-zebras
You can join the Pathway Challenge here: https://neuroendocrinecanceruk.enthuse.com/cf/neuroendocrine-cancer-uk-virtual-pathway-challenge