A man who "fought" his terminal cancer diagnosis by walking and keeping positive has now been told that his scans are clear with no "visible signs" of the tumours.
Steve Brown, from Preston, thought he had a broken rib from a DIY accident where he was building a fence, in 2020, as the pain didn't go away and he went to hospital where he was told he had cancer.
The 50-year-old underwent scans where medics noticed an anomaly with his kidneys which turned out to cancer which had spread and his outlook wasn't good.
Steve found out he had a large kidney tumour on the pleural sack and at least 12 small tumours across both of his lungs.
After various scans, operations and treatments, Steve underwent some more treatment at the Rosemere Cancer Centre in Preston, called double dose immunotherapy. This uses the body's immune system to fight cancer cells, with one medication working to stop the cancer cells from hiding and the other to supercharge your immune system to hunt down and destroy these cells.
On Christmas Eve 2021, he was "given the best Christmas present ever", that his tumours had shrunk by around 50%, which only 10% of patients experience.
But in the following three month period, his immunotherapy stopped working and his tumours doubled in size, reported LancsLive.
He then received a letter from the hospital stating that his treatments now are for palliative care only.
Ever the positive man, Steve then went for a week of radiation therapy and afterwards, continued on his climbs, with a walk up Snowden, then Mynydd Mawr.
And on his return, he underwent another scan which showed his tumours had shrunk by 50% again and the immunotherapy was still working.
His situation continued to go up and down in 2022 but then he was given some amazing news that almost no visible cancer was visible.
Now, every three months, Steve undergoes scans to see what's going on with his condition.
His wife Claire, 43, said: "That's how we're living at the moment, just three months at a time. But things are really good at the minute, the latest scans showed that there was currently no visible cancer, so it's going amazingly well.
"I'm just going to try and kill him off walking now!"
Steve found his course of treatment particularly hard as he's a self-confessed "busy bee" but determined not to let the "cancer win" he is also taking part in the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge.
Claire said: "The double dose [immunotherapy] that Steve had, it's all new. So basically, because it's all new, we don't know what the future holds.
"This cancer could stay at bay, or it could come back. So it's sort of living with that. So, every time a scan comes round, you think, oh God and you get a little niggle or he'd get a pain in his side when he's waiting for his latest result and you think, oh is it cancer? Is it back?"
This ethos has driven Claire and Steve to complete the 'Baby Goats Step' challenge - 32 summits in 30 days, across four counties.
With their training well and truly underway, the couple are in the middle of completing their mountain challenge, which will include one million steps and around 50,000 feet of climbing - the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest twice. It will see them completing walks in Lancashire, with Rivington Pike, Nick Nook, the Tolkien Trail and Darwen Tower.
The couple will also be completing walks in Yorkshire and in the Lake District. Amongst these walks, Claire and Steve will also be climbing various mountain summits, including Snowden and on the 30th day, the very last day of the challenge, they will be undertaking the Yorkshire Three Peaks - Ingleborough, Pen Y Ghent and Whernside.
Claire said: "Steve is probably a little bit more private than I am and at the beginning, he didn't really want to share his story. But, it gives other people hope that get that terminal diagnosis.
"In the beginning, when you're first told, you start thinking about what the future holds don't you? You start thinking about funerals and what not, but he never did that. Straight from the off, he was 'I'm not going to be a statistic, I'm going to fight this' and being mentally strong and it gives other people hope, that even with a terminal diagnosis, you can still carry on with life."
People can donate to Claire and Steve's 'Baby Goats Step' challenge for Cancer Research here.
