Tough drug treatment helps Telford family buy time
A father-to-be given just months to live is battling gruelling rounds of chemotherapy to defy medics and buy precious time with his family.
Andre Timberlake-Evans, 39, of Oakengates, Telford, has fresh hope after cancer specialists found his first rounds of treatment were proving successful.
And with a baby on the way he is determined to outlive the expectations of doctors, who found he had an incurable brain tumour.
"Surgery removed 98 per cent of the tumour but the chemo is to reduce the residual fluid left on my brain," explained Andre, who was forced to sell his business, Horizon Window Cleaning, when he became ill.
"But we had our first results back and they said it had shrunk it so that shows chemo is working and we are going in the right direction.
"I take tablets for five days on the first week of every month. Each day of the week you feel more and more tired.
"You can go out walking and worry how you're going to get back."
He said the oncologist told him he could finish his chemo in June and then continue, without any signs of his condition worseningg, to February, he could have more chemo.
"That would be the best case scenario and there's hope. It's the first positive news we've had about my progress," said Andre.
His wife Maria, 32, a retail assistant at Asda Living in Wrekin Retail Park, Wellington, said: "To start with our oncologist was very straight down the line and said you've got nine to 12 months.
"But the fact that he's talking about Andre possibly being around next February is really positive.
"He's been treating another patient who has the same condition as Andre for three years so that gives us hope."
Andre added: "There's always hope. Even if it's not looking good for me there's progress and science is making massive advances. If I can hang around for a bit longer there might be more they can do for me."
The new hope of a longer life expectancy is a far cry from last October, when the couple of 12 years brought their wedding forward after receiving the devastating diagnosis.
But the inspirational pair vowed to treasure every moment of the months doctors estimated Andre had left.
"We had two and a half weeks to arrange the wedding of a lifetime and it was amazing," said Andre."Everyone in that room we loved and it was absolutely magical."
Their son Max, a pupil at Wrockwardine Wood Arts Academy School, took on the role of usher and ring-bearer at the ceremony at the Hadley Park Hotel in Telford.
