‘Fit and healthy’ PE teacher, 32, given just 12 months to live after ‘simple football injury’ revealed ‘silent killer’
JUST three months ago, PE teacher Matthew Starkey was looking forward to a new house, a new job and a new chapter with his girlfriend.
But the 32-year-old’s dreams were shattered when a seemingly simple football injury was diagnosed as stage four spinal cancer and he was told he only had a year left to live.
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Within hours, Matthew had proposed to partner Carrie Fleming and the couple set a wedding date for next month.
Now, as the sports fan works to complete his bucket list, he is sharing his story on social media and raising cash in a bid to find a treatment that could extend his life.
Brave Matthew, whose Instagram account, @fastandtumorous, has 13,000 followers, says: “The reaction has been absolutely incredible.
“You can’t have a tumour without humour. When they told me how long I had to live, I was determined to defy the odds.
“I want to spread the message that no matter how insignificant you feel an issue is, get it checked.
“I refuse to put a timeframe on my life. The tumour may be fast-growing but I’m staying positive.
“The diagnosis was terminal — I aim to prove them wrong.”
Matthew dreams of a honeymoon in Italy and a trip to see the Northern Lights.
A GoFundMe page with a £50,000 target has been set up to help with his bucket list — and to contribute funding to clinical trials.
He has also vowed to walk up the aisle to give Carrie, 29, a “fairytale” moment on their wedding day.
Matthew revealed he was fit and active until last November, working out at the gym four times a week, as well as playing golf and football.
When one of his legs began to ache after a game of seven-a-side, he assumed he had pulled a muscle.
He later had surgery for a collapsed nerve, but still the pain persisted.
In February, Matthew’s right leg gave way and tests showed he had an aggressive cancer in his spine.
The tumour, a glioblastoma, usually starts in the brain — and only originates in the spine for fewer than ten people in the UK each year.
By now unable to walk, Matthew, who teaches business, IT and PE, had an op at Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital, where he also popped the question to Carrie.
He says: “I didn’t want to waste any time. I didn’t have a ring on me, but she said yes.”
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More surgery gave Matthew, from Belfast, some respite from the pain but, within weeks, it returned so severely he needed a wheelchair.
It was then he decided to share his journey and asked a nurse to record him on his phone talking about what he was going through.
Matthew has now undergone daily chemotherapy and 30 sessions of radiotherapy in a bid to stabilise the cancer, and will have a scan this summer to find out if it worked.
But with chemo the only remaining option for him in the UK, he is looking at treatments abroad, too.
He says: “They will be expensive. I am raising the money in the hope I could get accepted on to a clinical trial that could extend my life.
“They can’t remove the tumour, so it will always be there but, with treatment, I hope there’s a chance it can be put into remission.
“Carrie and I have moved into a new home, but we need to adapt it for my wheelchair and I want to make some memories together.”
Matthew is also raising money for Friends Of The Cancer Centre, a local charity that funds life-changing projects for people affected by the disease.
He hopes to complete September’s Belfast half-marathon in his wheelchair for the cause.
He says: “They’ve shown nothing but compassion, and I want to try to help them. I’d be so grateful for any help from Sun on Sunday readers. I plan to fight this all the way.”
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