A Stewarton man who has defied the odds to battle on against terminal cancer is mounting a bid to help other sufferers of life-limiting illness.
Hugh Carter was given the devastating news that doctors believed he had just six months to live in early 2016.
The life-long musician had just married his partner, Maria, five months earlier when he received a call from his GP to tell him that the prognosis was grim.
Hugh – who was working as a music therapist with sufferers of dementia at the time of his diagnosis – was sent for tests after he began losing his voice.
He told the Kilmarnock Standard: “Latterly in my career, I was working as a music therapist with special needs children and with people with Alzheimer’s.
“I was singing all the time and I developed a lot of sore throats I couldn’t get rid of, I thought it was the cold, I was eventually sent to a speech and language therapist, to try and help with my voice and my singing and it never actually went away.”
Hugh was sent for further investigation and a chest x-ray revealed the shock news.
The 69-year-old said: “This had been going on for some time and I was sent for an x-ray, I went for it in the morning and then went to work. I was driving home from work when I got a phone call from my GP, saying ‘I think you better come in and speak to us’.
“I was told I had stage 4 lung cancer, it’s incurable, there’s nothing we can do.”
The news understandably devastated Hugh, his new wife and his two step-daughters.
He underwent chemotherapy for months in a bid to shrink the tumours in his lungs and prolong his life, but that also took a toll, he says: “I had chemotherapy for, I think it was around nine months.
“It was horrible, I was really ill, I was so tired and I wasn’t really able to eat, the most I could manage on good days was a cheese toastie”.
But Hugh was hit even harder by an unintended consequence of the treatment, he says: “I was so ill I couldn’t even hold a guitar.”
Music held a special place in Hugh’s heart, it was to music he turned as a teenager when his intended future as an actor didn’t work out and he left Glasgow’s Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama one year into a three year course.
He says: “I didn’t really know what to do, but a big music shop was opening up in Glasgow and I got a job there working as a salesman.”
From a musical family, Hugh played some guitar and dabbled in other instruments but he went on to own his own music shop and later a Glasgow-based recording studio before he became a music therapist.
But his failing health had temporarily halted his passion, he adds: “It hit me hard not being able to play music. Your whole life completely changes. It became apparent that chemotherapy wasn’t for me at all, so they stopped it and just left me for a while, I wasn’t getting treatment but then they decided to do targeted radiotherapy.”
Hugh, however, received some good news when oncology specialists at Crosshouse Hospital were involved in trials of a new drug.
They received the go-ahead to use the revolutionary treatment Alectinib - which has been experiencing success amongst lung cancer sufferers like Hugh in the US for around five years.
Hugh said: “When I was told I had stage four cancer, they said I had six months. I asked how long it was possible to survive for and the doctor said I was younger than a lot of cases and relatively fit, they had seen someone get two years.
“My oncologist said to me when I was first diagnosed that the chances of me getting five years were only three per cent but the chances with this drug are almost 70 per cent.”
With his health on the up, Hugh was inspired to return to music, saying: “I played in bands for decades, I was with a progressive rock group called Abel Ganz, I still had songs that I had written that I had thought the band would play.”
So he turned his attention to compiling the work to create his new eleven track digital album, Still.
It was a labour of love for Hugh, he says: “I went to the studio I used to own in Glasgow and the guys helped me. I could only work for three or four hours because I get so tired.
“I dabble in a lot of instruments myself, I play guitar, a bit of keyboards, percussion but I have a lot of musician friends and they helped me out.”
Once such pal was Deepak Bahl, who is credited with setting Kilmarnock’s own hit rockers Biffy Clyro on the road to stardom.
Non-smoker Hugh confesses his favourite piece from the 11 featured on the work is ‘Slumber Sweetly’, which he describes as a “love song” for his wife Maria, whom he met online more than 13 years ago.
He now wants a portion of the proceeds generated through sales of the album to go to Ayrshire Hospice, which has helped Hugh and his family since his diagnosis.
Adds Hugh: “The hospice have been fantastic, they are always on the phone to me, they keep an eye on you, they help with your mental health and wellbeing, you can ask them practical questions and it’s good to talk to people who know how you’re feeling.
“People say things to you, like ‘keep fighting’ but it’s not cured, I am going to die, it’s helpful to even talk to people who understand how you feel. I did a lot of my grieving when I got my diagnosis and I put my house in order, life insurance, funeral arrangements, worrying about people left behind. I know I’m going to die but I try not to think about it.
“My wife is terrified but I really do want to help people going through the same thing and help Ayrshire Hospice.”
The album, created by Hugh’s alter-ego Glen Brielle is available, priced at £8 online, at glenbrielle.bandcamp.com with more information via Facebook at https://m.facebook.com/GlenBrielle/
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