Born survivor goes for gold

7:45pm Friday 18th May 2007

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A sportsman is preparing to make a comeback this summer after beating a string of life-threatening illnesses.

Grant Cawte conquered leukaemia, a brain tumour, MRSA and a debilitating transplant, and is getting ready to win at the World Transplant Games.

The 33-year-old will represent Great Britain in badminton, cycling and running at the tournament in Bangkok this August.

He said: "It's nice to highlight the importance of transplantation - but I'm really going out to win a gold medal."

Mr Cawte, who lives in Middle Barton with his wife, Patricia, 33, has battled a series of medical blows since he was 18 and played Badminton for England's junior team.

He said: "I was going to take a year off and see how far I could get. During my first tournament I became very breathless.

"I knew something was wrong, but kept going until I ended up in accident and emergency, where they found I was a few days away from death.

"My blood count was so low I was at risk from having a heart attack."

Doctors diagnosed leukaemia and gave him chemotherapy to prepare for a bone marrow transplant. But an undetected reaction to the drugs once again left him dangerously ill.

He said: "I was home before they realised I had a blood clot on my brain. By the time I got back to hospital I was fitting and spent days in a coma.

"While they were scanning the clot they found a non-cancerous brain tumour, which meant I wouldn't survive a bone marrow transplant for the leukaemia."

Instead, Mr Cawte was given a cocktail of medication to keep the leukaemia at bay, allowing him to start university.

Disaster struck a third time when doctors discovered the tumour had started to grow.

A build-up of fluid was removed from his brain before he was given a shunt to regularly drain away any excess.

Mr Cawte, who works for Oxfordshire County Council as a procurement manager, said: "I was back at university for one week when they found the leukaemia had returned.

"At that point there was no other option and I had to have a transplant.

"Before I had it they just couldn't get me well enough for the operation, and when one drug finally did work I got MRSA and had no immune system left."

But Mr Cawte recovered and in January 1997 had the transplant. But his body rejected the donor marrow, attacking his lungs and liver, and causing a build up of scar tissue around his joints leaving him unable to move.

He explained: "That was really the most difficult thing for me. I couldn't walk more than 100 metres and needed help with things like getting dressed.

"I went on a clinical trial for photopheresis, where they remove your white blood cells and expose them to ultraviolet light before returning them to your body. My mobility started to return about four years ago.

"I still have the brain tumour. I'm just of the view that it won't cause me any problems for the rest of my life."