A drummer with one of Glasgow's most popular bands says he feels lucky to be alive after getting the all-clear following a secret battle with bowel cancer.
Paul McManus, of rock band Gun, feared he would never play with the band again after doctors discovered the malignant tumour in February.
When specialists told him the strain was aggressive and fast-moving, he started thinking about getting his affairs in order, reports the Daily Record.
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Paul, 56, said: “I didn’t think I would ever sit behind a drum kit again. For a while there, I seriously thought my drumming days were over.
“I’ve been gifted a second chance at life and I’m planning to use every second of it. I have been taking life for granted but I now realise today is a gift and tomorrow is promised to no one.
“My new motto is carpe diem and, thanks to the incredible NHS who saved me, I hopefully have many years of drumming left in me.”
Against all the odds, skilled surgeons removed the entire tumour before it spread.
Last night, just four months after his diagnosis, the musician was back playing with bandmates Dante and Jules Gizzi, Andy Carr and Davie Aitken at a packed Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh.
Paul, who has been with the award-winning hard rock band full-time since 2009, hid the real reason for his six-month absence from fans.
He said: “The last gig I did was at the Barrowland in early December so I haven’t played in six months.
“I decided not to share the reason for my absence with fans because at first the prognosis wasn’t that great and I was coming to terms with it myself.
Then, when things improved, I began concentrating on getting myself fit enough to drum again.”
Paul started to feel unwell at the start of the year but put it down to working too hard and stress. When he got a pain in his lower abdomen, he decided it was time to see his doctor.
The musician, who grew up in the village of Forth in South Lanarkshire, said: “I took myself off for tests and soon after, on February 6, I was told I had bowel cancer. I was knocked for six, especially when they said it was aggressive and fast moving. I started thinking of getting my affairs in order.
“Fortunately, luck was on my side. Usually by the time they discover the strain of cancer I had, it’s game over but due to the pain they caught it much quicker.”
Paul, who has played with some of the biggest names in the music industry, added: “I had a 10-hour operation to remove the tumour and some of my small bowel on February 28 in Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Once again I caught a lucky break as they were able to remove it in its entirety plus the lymph nodes.
"Afterwards the doctors told me that if the tumour had been an inch to the left or right, I would have been in big trouble and they would not have got it all.
“Being told the cancer was completely gone was nearly as shocking as the diagnosis itself. I had to come to terms with the fact my life was not ending.”
Paul, who now lives in Glasgow’s west end, credits the NHS for saving his life and urges other men who are worried about their health to get checked out sooner rather than later.
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