Fechin Mc Cormick (Sale Harriers Manchester)

Last summer Sale Harrier’s ANDREW McASLAN – just 25 years of age, was diagnosed with Stage 4 of an incurable blood cancer called follicular lymphoma. He went through six months of immuno-chemotherapy and thankfully he continues to be in remission. He’s been told his remission is temporary because the condition at present is incurable and he has no way of knowing when it will return or how severe.

Athletic Weekly reported on Andy’s tragedy last October and wrote how, when Andy won 800m bronze in the British Universities Championships two years ago, he had hopes of progressing to international level, when his form and fitness began to deteriorate. “I knew something was not right,” he said after he’d run an under par 1:56.21 for 800m in Leeds in May 2021.

He and his partner, fellow 800m runner Leah Barrow, searched for answers and finally, following several frustrating misdiagnoses, he received the worst possible news that he had an incurable blood cancer called non-Hodgkin follicular lymphoma.

“Unfortunately my cancer is currently incurable” he said. Therefore even if remission is achieved, it will still be living in my body and there is a high chance that it will start growing again. However there is no indication of when and how severe.” Andy is at stage four of the disease at the age of just 25 so unless a cure is found, the treatment options will eventually run out.”

To raise awareness of the disease and to hasten a cure Andy and his sister Kirsten and their family and friends set about promoting the little known Follicular Lymphoma Foundation and fund-raising for them. The main fundraising event last October raised £2.6m and a personal fund-raising page which Andy himself set up raised an incredible further £80k! “If they can find a cure for the Covid-19 vaccine so quickly” he said,” then with the necessary funding in place it gives hope that a cure for follicular lymphoma can also be quickly found”.

The Foundation has been underfunded for so long so the resources have not been put into finding a cure but the experts have said that it is possible.”

Talent runs through Andy’s family. Andy’s sister, Kirsten is a British international 400m and 400m hurdler and was until recently a regular member of Sale Harriers T & F teams since 2013.

Throughout 2022 Andy, his partner, Kirsten and their family and friends will continue to raise awareness and funding so that a cure is urgently found for him. He’s just started an Instagram and YouTube account to document his cancer experience and his attempts to return to running following his treatment and to raise awareness for the disease and the Follicular Lymphoma Foundation.

The account is called ‘Cancer and the Comeback’ and any help sharing that on his behalf will be much appreciated. The link to the Instagram account is:-

https://instagram.com/cancerandthecomeback

.... The link to the YouTube is: https://youtube.com/channel/UC5SwZgBerBH7QdLB6jL8JqA

To make a donation, the direct link to the Follicular Lymphoma Foundation donation page is https://www.theflf.org/donate

Please put your whole heart and soul into supporting Andy and digging as deep as you can so we do our bit to get Andy a cure. After all he’s ‘one of us’ and we want him back onto that track…….in 1:50 PB shape at least! Please share........