Neil Higgins

[barneybear]

Neil was diagnosed with mouth cancer in mid-March and on Tuesday May 5th had an operation to remove the tumour from his mouth. He was in theatre for 22 hours :o and the doctors are reasonably confident that they have got all of the growth. There are some residual cancer cells in other parts of his body (lymph nodes) and these will be zapped by a course of radiotherapy which will start soon after he is discharged from the Royal Sussex County in Brighton and will last for up to 5 weeks.

Neil's tongue had to be removed as did most of his teeth, part of his jaw and his soft palate. He will undergo speech therapy and hopes to be able to speak again in some form. He has had a new 'tongue' grafted on made of muscle from his abdomen (they tried his back first but that didn't work - one of the major reasons for the length of the op - it was only scheduled to be 12-14 hours!) He has had a tracheotomy (which should be removed soon) and is fed by a tube directly into his stomach.

The doctors are happy with his progess and he his hoping to be home next week.

I visited him last night and both he and Lyn are being very positive.

[doug]

Thanks for the update Paul.

Please give our best wishes for a speedy recovery to Neil and Lyn.

From Doug and Claire

I'm stunned by what I've just read and just hope and pray that Neil makes a good recovery, though it sounds as if it's a long haul.

Hope they've caught everything in time and that Neil's as comfortable as anyone could be in such circumstances.

[Sparky]

I too am stunned and really feel for him and his loved ones. Paul please pass on my best wishes to Neil and his family and thank you for letting us know the situation.

[Dave Anscombe]

As tommo above, I was stunned by the seriousness of Neils illness. I was aware that he was going into hospital at this time but not to undergo such a serious operation as this.

Both Viv and myself send our best wishes to both Neil and Lyn and hope for a speedy recovery.

[davemay]

I also wish Neil a speedy recovery, and hope that everything goes as the doctors say they hope it will. Please pass on my best wishes.

Dave May

[bigtj]

Just to add to all above Liz and I wish Neil a very speedy recovery and our heartfelt thoughts go out to Lyn at this time.

[alanbygone (R.I.P.)]

Hi Barney.. to hear about Niel, will miss him at the BB golf this year, please give him my best wishes for the sucess of the treatment, and as I know, assure him that their can be light at the end of the cancer tunnel, keep positive.

Alan Duffell

[davejones]

I saw Neil on Monday. He is in good spirits although his speach is not perfect you can understand him. Lyn was saying that they will know on Wednesday (3rd) whether they have caught it all. He is practising saying three times, one up.

[barneybear]

An update on Neil for you.

The test results that Dave Jones talked about in the previous note all came back negative. Just to make sure that there is no remaining cancer Neil is to start a 5/6 week course of radiotherapy tomorrow. He will undergo this every day in Brighton.

For those of you who missed KT's post in another thread Neil was out and about last Thursday playing his first game of BB since his illness and in fact was our only winner in a 1-4 home defeat against KT and crew in the Watney Mann first leg.

Neil is still being fed through the tube into his stomach, but can talk. It is not that easy to understand, but gets easier the more you get used to it.

We wish him well, and hope the darkest hours are behind him and that Neil is fully on the mend and it's all positive news for him from now on.

[bigtj]

What great news all sounds pretty positive and good to know he can show his team mates how to play the game.

[Sparky]

Thanks for the good news and hope Neil has the fullest of recoveries.
Graham