A GREAT DAY FOR A NOBLE CAUSE (aka Snowy’s special day)

My name is Ryan McGrory. My dad, Daniel McGrory was diagnosed with Oesophageal cancer 13 years ago. He called a family meeting with my mum Margaret, sister Suzanne and brother Adam. Naturally, we were all devasted, and frightened.

In stepped the most wonderful man ever to walk into our families’ lives. Mr Grant Fullarton. He was assigned as consultant to my dad. Grant performed lifesaving surgery, cut the cancer out of his oesophagus and re-attached his oesophagus to his stomach. A very invasive procedure and an incredible feat of achievement. When it comes to oesophageal cancer, we knew the chances of survival were small. Miraculously, Grant’s intervention saved my dads life.

My dad’s key message to everyone reading this:

“It was only the fact I got lucky with an early diagnosis after having real difficulty swallowing that Mr Grant Fullarton my consultant could operate. Most of the time with oesophageal, the cancer is too far progressed to operate. I encourage anyone with difficulty swallowing, a sensation that the food isn’t going down into the stomach, to make an appointment with their GP and speak to them about it. Early diagnosis could just save your life.”

I have many good friends whose family members have not been so lucky. Cancer is an insidious disease that devastates families. All we can do is try to support the people that are working hard every day to not only find a cure, but also to support families dealing with it.

That’s where the Oesophageal Patients Association (OPA) come in. What wonderful work Drew and the whole organisation are doing, dedicating their time and energy to raising funds, placing themselves at the forefront of the battle against oesophageal and gastric cancers. This is noble work that Mr Fullarton told us about. I wanted to help the cause!

I arranged a charity golf day in my work, Aviva, to raise money through the fees to play golf, a raffle and a silent auction of some key items. I was humbled by people’s support. Immediately people started handing me bottles of expensive champagnes, whisky, fancy gins among other thoughtful and wonderful prizes and it was clear how many hearts were being touched.  

Other colleagues arranged for things like a signed football top from John Hartson the ex-Celtic player, who signed it himself to raise funds for the OPA. This was sold at silent auction for a lot of money. Celtic Football club donated a football in a beautiful case signed by all the players and manager. Rangers Football Club also got involved, kindly donating a tour of the museum among other incredible things.

We, in Glasgow, are acutely aware of the bitter rivalry between these 2 clubs, so it was humbling to see the dividing wall come tumbling down in the city that we love.  

When it comes to the fight against cancer, then, we are all just human beings. The disease does not discriminate by football team, postcode, social standing, financial status, colour, creed or anything else.

Drew at the OPA donated hampers and M&S vouchers & beautiful OPA teddies among lots of other lovely prizes. My health club & gym, David Lloyd, also got involved, donating a free membership, a 4-ball golf day and furnished me with a dozen laminated day passes for me to present to all the key helpers at the golf after dinner speech. My friend donated classes for his Shukokai Karate Club in Glasgow.

My direct and extended family (special mention to my Auntie Betty & Uncle Billy McGraw for their amazing generosity) and friends all made donations to the Just Giving page (link below) I set up to raise even more money and donated wonderful gifts for the raffle. It was like a scene out of a superhero movie!

Cancer Warriors, ASSEMBLE!

The whole golf day was a huge success from start to finish, ending up in ‘The Post’ bar in Calderbank Glasgow that my friend John Hickey arranged (his local!), where we all played pool, danced to music on the juke box and drew the raffle winners. What an amazing night everyone had, along with some touching moments remembering those we have lost to this disease.

The result? – We raised a total of ÂŁ6185!

At the outset, OPA asked me what my target amount was. I said £2k. To TREBLE this was such an incredible moment. We owe a HUGE THANK YOU to AVIVA… who very kindly £ matched the £3k we raised, helping us to get to the £6k result.

This money will go a long way to helping the OPA in supporting families who are suffering at the hands of this horrible disease. Throughout this journey some people mentioned having had some similar symptoms & they will get checked by their doctor, so we have very importantly raised awareness too.

This has been a one-year long journey I will never forget. We live in a world containing a lot of negativities, where some members of humanity are doing horrible things to one another.

This positive experience gave me some much-needed proof that there is a lot of good in the world. So many good human beings. It was truly uplifting. My family is eternally grateful to Grant and his team that my dad is here to see this, and we say a prayer for those that sadly aren’t. Those that live in our hearts never die.

Thanks everyone, I wish you all good health on your journey, because one thing life has taught me – your health is priceless.

Ryan

& If you would like to donate to the cause the page is still open! Link:

https://www.justgiving.com/page/ryan-mcgrory-1724801181481?utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=page%2Fryan-mcgrory-1724801181481&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=pfp-email

PS If you were wondering about Snowy’s special day, it’s a children’s story my dad used to read to me when I was a kid, about a wee white rabbit that had the perfect day! This was my perfect day.”

For Paul Greaves

Andrew (Woody) is planning to complete his first ever half-marathon in memory of one of his oldest and dearest friends who was sadly lost to oesophageal cancer.  Paul was a great friend, husband and father.  He was with his wife Lucy  for 24 years and they had 3 girls and 3 dogs, this was his world. He was a man who just loved his family, and was happy with life. He had an amazing sense of humour, he had lived his life to the fullest, experienced so much fun and so many laughs.  He had good friends and he and Lucy were looking forward to spending the rest of their lives together, they were not just partners but best friends.

Around Christmas last year he got a bad back and by the time he was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer that had spread, it was too late to save him. We lost him in March after a terribly brutal illness. He kept his strength and sense of humour until the last moment.  For Andrew (Woody) to run in support of OPA means so much to the family, and it would have meant the world to him, as we want to think that other families in our position and in the position Paul was in will benefit from much needed support they offer.  Paul is missed everyday, he was a brilliant husband and Dad, and was loved so much it can’t be measured, life for his family is now lived alongside his memory instead of alongside him, but they try to make him proud along the way. They are very grateful that others will hear his story, and that he is not forgotten.

Andrew has always hated running and drunkenly agreed to take part in to Standard Chartered Half Marathon in Hong Kong.  After agreeing to do it, he enrolled hoping he wouldn’t  make the cut but he did.  Running for Paul is the only thing motivating him to get up at 5.30am every morning and train 5 times a week.  At the moment he’s only managed 10k but still has 2 months training.  Any sponsorship will be greatly received for a great cause.

Take a look and support Andrew’s Just Giving page here.

I’m pleased to say myself and my brother Lee completed the Barrows and Downs trail marathon in Salisbury on Saturday the 12th October. 

It was very very tough, both mentally and physically, but thoughts and memories of Danny got us both through it. 

We wanted to raise money for OPA in memory of our brother in law Danny Gamble. Danny passed away in August last year after a short battle with Oesophageal cancer. 

Danny was only in his mid 40s, with a devoted wife Vicki, a 14 year old son Arthur, and an 11 year old daughter Betsy. A month before his diagnosis, Danny was fit and healthy, playing football and working as a builder, before he started to feel very ill. 

Within two weeks of his diagnosis, Danny was taken from us, we only just had enough time to say goodbye. 

Danny was a cheeky chappy, full of charm and banter. He was also very kind and compassionate. We therefore wanted to do something to celebrate his life, and raise money towards a charity that helps people and families that go through the same thing, with hopefully a different outcome. 

Including gift aid we have raised ÂŁ2656.25 through our justgiving page, some of this was also raised as a result of our charity football match in honour of Danny on the 15th September

Thank you

Ellen 

Click here to view Danielle’s Fundraising Page
“My Story

On the 27th April 2025 I will run the TCS London Marathon to raise funds for the Oesophageal Patients’ Association (OPA) to repay their kindness for supporting me during my own cancer treatment and recovery and to help them raise vital funds to provide emotional support and dietetic advice to people living with oesophageal cancer and to spread awareness of this cruel condition.

My connection to Oesophageal Cancer and Running

I began running in 2016 and love the physical and mental challenge of it. I started from running parkrun and built up my fitness to run the Manchester Marathon in autumn 2021. At the peak of my fitness in May 2022, I was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer completely out of the blue after noticing a change in my swallow.  It was devastating as I have no family history and no explanation why I came to have a 6cm squamous cell carcinoma tumour in my mid-oesophagus. Waiting for the results of the diagnostic scans and MDT reviews was the most fraught and anxious time of my life. Running helped me through this: it was no longer about training to get faster times or run further, my goal was to stay fit for treatment and to look after my mental health.  Thankfully, I had been diagnosed early before there was any spread and qualified for curative treatment. I had chemo and radiotherapy in summer 2022 which was brutal – I suffered radiation induced oesophagitis and could no longer eat or drink so needed a feeding tube for nutrition and hydration and morphine to manage my pain. I kept active and the swelling and pain reduced after 6 weeks so I was able to complete The Great North Run in September 2022 with an NG tube 10 days before I had my Ivor Lewis oesophagectomy.  I had to hang up my running shoes for a few months to heal from the massive procedure, relearn to eat and get enough nutrition and rebuild my strength to be able to run again. Getting back to running has helped me regain fitness and motivate me, when I improve at running I know my body is healthy. It has been a frustrating and long recovery at times but I am now heathy enough to have run a half marathon again and my times at other distances are getting quicker and close to where I was pre-surgery. My team at the hospital are amazed with my recovery and were so happy for me when I brought them my GNR 2024 medal to clinic to show them. The hospital dieticians are thrilled to be giving sports nutrition advice to a cancer survivor too! I am ready for this marathon challenge!

My recovery has been so positive thanks to my wonderful partner Paul and my children; my friends, work and Scout group; cancer support groups; the incredible team at St James’ hospital, Leeds; and many wonderful charities like the OPA who have provided me with information and support along the journey. At the start of the surgical recovery, I was given a lot of reading material by the OPA which helped me so much when I was learning to eat again. The OPA card that informs restaurants of my limited stomach capacity or that I might need to use their disabled toilets was so helpful to me. When I received an email from the OPA in October looking for people to run TCS London Marathon 2025 for them who had ambition to run the distance, had a personal connection to oesophageal cancer and who would be committed to fundraising, I felt that I would be a great candidate for this and I am thrilled that they have chosen me to run for them and hope to raise them lots of funds! 

Please support me on my run and fundraising for my cause. If you are able, please sponsor me any amount is gratefully received but I understand times are hard so if that’s not possible then keep encouraging me as I keep building up my mileage and please share this page and spread some information which may lead to a life-saving early diagnosis for someone else. Not all oesophageal patients are as fortunate as me. :’(

Thank you for visiting my fundraising page and for your support

Danielle xx”