After a traumatic brain injury put him in a coma and blinded him in one eye, Byron Smith had managed to get his life back on track. But a cancer diagnosis eight weeks ago has now left him facing a major new obstacle.
The 41-year-old has always lived life to its fullest. An avid runner and surfer, he has smashed through numerous obstacles, undergoing nine surgeries and bouncing back from a deep coma after a severe brain injury.
Eight weeks ago, he was diagnosed with PMP cancer (Pseudomyxoma Peritonei), a rare and devastating disease that affects one in 1 million people per year. He now faces what is often referred to as the “mother of all surgeries”.
“I turned up to work on a Monday morning, and I drove myself to A&E with this excruciating pain in my lower chest and lower spine,” says Smith, who was born and raised in Martinborough and now lives in Tauranga.
After numerous scans, it was found his appendix had ruptured, and he underwent surgery to remove it.
“They came back to see me on Saturday morning, and they had photos in the back of the folder, and I sort of was wondering what it was.
“They said that they’d found what looks to be cancer cells. So they did more tests on everything they had removed from the surgery.”
It was found he had PMP, a rare type of mucinous cancer that spreads by secreting mucin, a component of mucus, inside the abdominal cavity.
Following the diagnosis, Smith was forced to give up work so he could fully focus on recovery.
To fight the cancer, Smith will have to undergo a procedure called Cytoreductive Surgery with HIPEC (Heated Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy).
After one patient dubbed the procedure the “mother of all surgeries”, the name has stuck and is commonly used to refer to the treatment by surgeons and patients.
The surgery is an extreme and gruelling operation. An incision is made from the ribs to the abdomen, opening up a cavity, exposing almost every organ in the area.
Surgeons then remove all visible tumours, pulling out each organ one by one, before filling the abdominal area with heated chemotherapy drugs to kill the remaining microscopic cancer cells.
It can take between four and 10 hours to complete, and potentially even longer, depending on the severity of each case. Smith said his procedure was expected to take between 10 and 13 hours.
It involves a post-surgery hospital stay of a few weeks, where Smith will be paralysed from the shoulders down for three days, followed by a gradual return to normality over three to six months. Full recovery can take up to a year.
Because Smith is a builder, he has been given two years off work to recover.
“That’ll be pretty, well, I’m glad I’ll be knocked out for that,” Smith said about the procedure.
He said he initially thought it wouldn’t be serious, but that soon changed.
“I spoke to a lady based in Napier. She has had the exact same sort of procedure and diagnosis, and she went for the surgery, but the story she told me of how it was for her was insane.
“Just the fact that she said that your body will be wanting to give in the whole time, and you’ve just got to stick with it.”
He expects the surgery to take place in November but it has yet to be scheduled.
‘One of those things you have to get used to’
It’s not the first major surgery Smith has undergone.
In 2009, while kite surfing, Smith suffered a serious brain injury.
“It was just a gusty day, and I just got lifted up in the air, and it wouldn’t fast-release. So I just got lifted and thrown into some big boulders.”
His skull and spine were shattered into multiple pieces and required numerous surgeries to reconstruct them.
Smith was also in a GS3 coma – the most severe level of unconsciousness – for five weeks.
Unfortunately, the treatments didn’t fully work, and Smith lost all sight in his left eye. But he’s never let it slow him down.
“That’s just one of those things you have to get used to, and it’s not going to change, so you’ll be fine.”
Smith got into running after his first major surgery and has since fallen in love with it, using it as a way to push through his challenges.
“That was one of the things that they tried to get me to do, just get out. The fitness side of things was great, but it was just the movement and the different smells and things in the air and the different weather.
“It’s a positive vibe.”
Community support has been a ‘changer’
A Givealittle page was set up by his sister to cover his living costs while he is out of work, as well as any uncovered treatments, drugs, tests and recovery equipment.
As of yesterday, a total of $14,530 had been raised.
“That has been amazing,” Smith said. “I’m so grateful for all of the donations from my hometown in Martinborough. The people there have been so generous, and that’s been super amazing.”
He said the page had been a “changer”.
“I was getting quite nervous. I had to sell off a house in Hamilton to pay off my mortgage, which was a big relief to get rid of because I won’t be able to work.”
The Tauranga running community has also rallied around Smith, and Public Runners, one of the groups he runs with, is planning an event to raise money and increase awareness about the importance of early cancer detection.
“Every day you see someone, they’re just so happy to see you, and they always say ‘Just let me know if you need anything, I’ll be there’. It’s been pretty cool.”
