Terminally ill father has just weeks left to live after his appendix BURST


A father has been told he has just weeks to live after his tumour-ridden appendix burst, spreading cancer throughout his body.

Adrian Hosken, 39, first went into hospital in February 2011 with crippling stomach pains.

Doctors believed he had appendicitis and put him on a waiting list for surgery to have the organ out.

The next day, he woke in immense pain and they found his appendix – which was riddled with cancer – had burst, spreading the disease to his liver, diaphragm and bowel.

Adrian Hosken, 39, has been told he has just weeks left to live after battling cancer for more than five years

His wife Angela, 36, is fundraising to begin alternative treatments she hopes will keep him alive for longer

The infected remains of his appendix had caused his organs to solidify together, and doctors pumped gas into his body, hoping it would separate them.

A week later a biopsy confirmed he a rare type of appendiceal cancer, which kills 90 per cent of patients within five years.

Two years later, he was diagnosed with cancer in his stomach, liver and bowel.

A month ago, Mr Hosken was told there was nothing more doctors could do for him, and that he had just weeks to live.

His wife Angela, 36, is determined to prolong his life so he can spend longer with his children, Noah, two, and Adriela, nine months.

Mr Hosken, from Bromley, Greater London, said: ‘If only my appendix hadn’t burst, I would have had it out, which would’ve got rid of the cancer.

‘I’m only 39. I’m not ready to leave my wife and two children.’ 

After his diagnosis Mr Hosken froze his sperm – but was told there was a chance cancer may have left him infertile.

To his delight, Mrs Hosken discovered she was pregnant as the couple prepared to start IVF.

A month ago, doctors told Mr Hosken he had just weeks left to live as he has exhausted all NHS treatment options. He is pictured on his wedding day

He said: ‘Doctors had told us a healthy sperm count was 20 million, and I had nothing, so we were shocked when we conceived naturally and feel that Noah and Adriela are both miracles.’

Mr Hosken has undergone two rounds of chemotherapy treatment and numerous operations – but each time, the disease returned within months.

Treatment for the tumours in his liver, diaphragm and bowel failed twice.

This included surgery to remove a section of his bowel, leaving him with a stoma bag.

Doctors have also warned him that the cancer was too aggressive for chemotherapy to be effective.

They have now said further conventional medicine will not work – and have said his cancer is terminal.

But he and his wife are determined to begin alternative treatments. 

Mrs Hosken said: ‘About a month ago doctors said there’s no conventional treatment left for his appendiceal cancer – that’s been found to work – so Adrian has been given weeks to live. 

‘Alternative therapy would hope to give him two years, which we want to look in to, which would give us more time to look for more therapies.’  

They have set up a fundraising page asking strangers to help raise £100,000 towards alternative treatments in the hope one can keep him alive.

Mrs Hosken, an executive assistant, said: ‘Adrian watched a documentary where a woman could hardly remember her father who died when she was 10 and this affected him.

‘He now wants to live until 2025, when Adriela will be 10 – and of course, beyond that to be a grandfather.

‘Adrian also turns 40 in October and we want to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary next February.’

The couple want to try virotherapy – a treatment which costs £30,000 a year.

It involves injecting a good virus in to the body to attack the cancer, and immunotherapy, designed to boost the body’s natural defences to fight the cancer. 

‘We don’t know what will work. We just want to try everything to help him,’ Mrs Hosken said.

In 2011, Mr Hosken’s cancer-ridden appendix burst and spread disease to his liver, diaphragm and bowel

The Hoskens were able to conceive naturally despite warnings cancer may have left Mr Hosken infertile. Mr and Mrs Hosken are pictured with son Noah, two when Adriela, now nine months, was born

Despite multiple operations, rounds of chemotherapy and other treatment – the cancer kept returning. The couple are now fundraising £100,000 for alternative therapies they hope will keep Mr Hosken alive

They are determined he will be able to survive given that he already lived beyond the five year prognosis.  

Mrs Hosken added she is hopeful her husband will live for longer.

She said: ‘I believe Adrian will be healed. I feel we’ve been blessed in so many ways, we have to have faith and fight.’

Her huband remains equally positive.

He said: ‘I don’t know how long I have left, or how I’m going to go, but I’m determined to live on.

‘I was supposed to die on Valentine’s Day this year but I’m still here. I was told I couldn’t have children but I did.’

For more information visit/www.gofundme.com/Adrian2025

‘I’m only 39. I’m not ready to leave my wife and two children,’ Mrs Hosken said of his prognosis