A CANCER survivor says he would be dead if he hadn't been diagnosed a few days before lockdown after two chances were missed.

Greenock man Mark Humphreys, 47, had been to his GP three times with a sore throat and was given antibiotics and sprays before a practice nurse at Regent Medical Practice finally raised the alarm.

Within an hour he found out he had throat cancer.

Mark, of Wellington Street, had been off work after breaking his hand and his wife persuaded him to go back to the doctor for a final time on March 12 last year.

Mark says this saved his life.

He said: "The practice nurse Eddie Harkness spotted it and got a second opinion.

"Within an hour I was up at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

"The doctor took one look at my throat and said it was throat cancer.

"I was absolutely dumbstruck.

"It took the feet right away from me."

Two weeks later the results of the biopsy revealed that Mark had stage three throat cancer, even though he had never smoked in his life.

Since then he has been on an intensive course of treatment.

He is sure he wouldn't be here if he hadn't got in just days before the pandemic struck and caused chaos in the NHS.

Mark, who lives with his wife Sharon, 47, said: "It's been horrendous.

"I felt a few times that I wasn't going to make it."

Mark, a tipper truck driver with WH Malcolm, added: "I probably wouldn't be here now.

"I wouldn't have got an appointment during the pandemic."

His journey to recovery has involved six gruelling weeks of radiotherapy and 36 hours of chemotherapy.

A combination of the cancer and effects of the treatment meant he spent eight weeks battling for his life at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre.

Mark said: "Because I couldn't eat or drink, I was fed through a tube and I had a line inserted with a morphine pump."

It's been a traumatic time for Sharon, who felt helpless because she couldn't visit her husband.

She said: "Everything just happened so quickly and we didn't get time to process it properly.

"It was terrible and there were times when I didn't think he was going to get through it.

"He kept going into 'hypos' because he had lost so much weight and his blood sugar levels were low and it was affecting his pancreas.

"The doctor from the hospital called me because Mark wanted to sign himself out and he could barely speak to me.

"The doctors said I need to try to speak to him because he might be dead in the morning."

Mark said the warning signs had been there but had been missed.

He said: "I hadn't been eating properly for weeks and had lost so much weight.

"I was about 16 and a half stone and I dropped to eleven.

"I had a metallic taste in my mouth, kept being sick and it was so sore every time I tried to swallow - it felt jaggy like, when you eat a boiled sweet.

Mark has two step-children and four step-grandchildren with Sharon.

The couple suffered a tragic loss in 2002 when their precious baby daughter Natalie was stillborn.

Despite being through so much Mark hopes he will be able to return to work and that 2021 will be a better year.

He is still very tired and has lost a lot of muscle strength in his legs.

Mark said: "I'm on statutory sick pay until March and I don't know if I'm going to keep my job.

"I'd really like to get back to work if I can."

Mark says he's received great support from Ardgowan Hospice's voluntary transport service which took him to hospital for all his appointments, and Jacqueline Coyle, welfare rights officer with Macmillan Cancer Support in conjunction with the NHS and HSCP.

He said: "Jacqueline has been brilliant, she has helped me sort of my finances, told me what benefits I'm entitled to and her colleague helped me fill out the forms and she even brought us food parcels.

"We are so grateful."