Fast forward two months and he’s mostly fully recovered from intestine surgery to remove cancerous tumours and a large part of his intestine. Next month his colleague Kayleigh Damant will run the Laguna Marathon on his behalf to raise funds for his medical bills.
Richard, originally from Leeds in Yorkshire, started getting stomach pains late last year. He initially thought it was a symptom of his irritable bowel syndrome, or perhaps he was wheat intolerant. But when he started urinating blood, he knew something was seriously wrong.
He went to Vachira Hospital Phuket, where he underwent tests.
But Richard says not much was being done to help him at Vachira, and a visit from Jazon Edouard, the HeadStart school director, saw Richard promptly moved to Bangkok Hospital Phuket on March 17.
There he was taken for a colonoscopy which showed a large tumour completely blocking his large intestine.
“It was on the verge of exploding, which would have meant more or less death.”
“I thought I was going to die, and I was very sad. I said my son [Oliver, Richard’s adult son who was visiting from the United Kingdom], to look after Eing [Richard’s heavily pregnant wife] and the baby.”
Richard went into surgery to try and fix the blockage but the operation was unsuccessful, so he went in a second time for a colectomy, whereby a large section of his intestine, which included the blockage and the tumours, was removed. A test on the tumour revealed it was stage-two cancer.
He was advised to have chemotherapy in case the tumour had spread through his bloodstream, but Richard is against the treatment, instead opting to dramatically alter his diet to improve his immune system.
Richard was covered by insurance up to B200,000, but his bill for his two-week stay and operations at Bangkok Hospital came to around B1 million. Mr Edouard put up the money to ensure the surgery got done, and Richard is now paying the money off at B5,000 a month from his pay cheque. A recent school fundraiser at HeadStart also raised B140,000.
Now PE teacher Kayleigh Damant has stepped in, accepting a challenge to run the Laguna Marathon, being held on June 9, to raise funds for Richard.
“I was going to do the half,” she said, “but then I spoke to my mum [also a marathon runner] who told me to suck it up and do the full one, and I reckon I can do it. Around 4 and a half to five hours is the time I’m looking at.”
Before her recent training, Kayleigh had never run more than 21 km, but now she’s up to 32 km. A full marathon is 42.2 km.
Already Kayleigh has raised B20,000. Raffle tickets are available for B100 each, and there are a lot of sponsored prizes up for grabs.
Anyone wishing to make a donation, buy a raffle ticket, or donate a raffle prize can contact Kayleigh by email to kayleigh@headstartphuket.com
Richard says he’s amazed and very grateful for all the support everyone is giving him.
“I’ve discovered a new love for people – they really do have a good side and it’s really touching.”