“I wasn’t digesting my food properly. It was basically just coming straight out of me,” the man said

NEED TO KNOW

• Lawrence Fox sought care for digestive issues and was eventually diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer
• Doctors told him that he may have only nine months to live
• After 12 rounds of chemotherapy, he is now urging others to seek help when they notice changes in their digestion

A man went to the doctor with digestion issues, only to be told he may only have nine months to live.

Lawrence Fox, 67, of Canterbury, England, said he first began noticing something wasn’t right in July 2024.

“I wasn’t digesting my food properly. It was basically just coming straight out of me,” he said, according to SWNS News.

“I had the runs, my stools were very soft and as soon as I was eating, within the next couple of hours I was going to the toilet,” he added.

Fox, a former construction manager, said that doctors initially put him on antibiotics, believing he had the intestinal infection diverticulitis, which he had suffered from in the past.

His symptoms hadn’t improved by August that year, so his doctor scheduled him for an endoscopy — which revealed nothing. Fox was then scheduled for a CT scan in November, but he said he wasn’t particularly worried.

“I was just glad I was getting it checked out,” he said.

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Fox also said that his elderly mother was extremely ill with sepsis at the time, and he attributed several of his symptoms, including a 14-lb. weight loss, to stress.

“At the time, I was more worried about my mom,” he explained.

Scans, however, eventually revealed that Fox had stage 4 pancreatic cancer and that the 3-inch tumor was inoperable, as it was so close to an artery.

Doctors said he may have as little as nine months to live and that he would need to begin chemotherapy.

“That wakes you up,” Fox said of his diagnosis and treatment plan.

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“My thought was, they obviously think I can take this chemo, and they wouldn’t be doing it if they didn’t think there was a chance of it doing something. So, I thought, if they’re going to give it to me, I’ve got to give it my all,” he recalled.

Fox underwent 12 rounds of chemotherapy for nine hours a day. His tumor shrank to about half an inch in size, and was therefore no longer considered stage 4, per SWNS.

The formerly avid golfer has since returned to the sport, and he also now does pilates. He said he hopes to return to swimming at some point.

As for Fox’s advice to others? He urges anyone noticing changes in their bodies to get checked out by a medical provider.

“If you don’t feel right and it’s to do with digestion, if you keep getting indigestion or your bowel movements change for no apparent reason, get it checked out,” he said.

“It might be something, and it might be nothing … just make the phone call to get it checked out,” Fox added.

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