'They reckon I've got about four to six months to live... but I'm still fighting, still punching every day'

Ex-pro boxer's pledge after doctors' shock diagnosis of terminal cancer

- Thomas Cooper

A FORMER professional boxer has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Medics have told Gary Marston there is 'nothing they can do' after discovering the 58-year-old has pancreatic cancer.

The dad-of-seven had been playing golf when his health took a downturn.

Gary, of Sandyford, said: "I had been playing a lot of golf that particular week. The third day we played, I was feeling very off. I couldn't concentrate on anything and I had no energy.

"I'd felt a bit off for the last six months but this was different. I was on the course at 3pm, in the doctor's for 4pm, and by 5pm I was in A&E having a blood-thinning injection in my stomach.

"It turned out I had a blood clot on my lung - and I had diabetes. But we thought that was it. They did more tests and sent me away. Three weeks later, it came back that I had cancer. It had already spread to my lymph nodes, so it had got into my lungs, my kidneys, you name it.

"At first they said I had a year to live. Now they've knocked that estimate down. They reckon I've got about four-to-six months left. But I'm still fighting. Still punching every day."