London: An Indian-origin doctor, who came to the UK in 1966 and went on to excel in medical practice to win royal honours, has hit the headlines by defying death by being cured of cancer even though he was given few months to live.
Rami Seth, who studied Medicine in New Delhi, also held his own 'wake' to party and bid goodbye to his family and friends, only to survive after an Indian-origin doctor-colleague advised him to take an old cancer drug that only works in around one in five patients.
Doctors in Nottingham told Seth, 70, that he had few weeks to live when he was diagnosed with four tumours in his liver in 2005.
He held the 'goodbye' party for friends and family the same year in Cytyside Cafe at Nottingham City Hospital.
But he started taking the old cancer drug called beta interferon after a chance conversation with colleague professor Poulam Patel. The drug shrank his tumour to the point where surgeons could remove it.
Seth said: "Professor Patel told me of this very old anti-cancer drug which only works in around one in five patients. I thought I had nothing to lose, so I gave it a try."
He was earlier diagnosed with cancer in his left kidney when he was 61 years old in June 2004.
He was operated on by a colleague at the City Hospital in the urology department and his left kidney was removed. But within a year, the cancer had returned to his liver and a large vein in the abdomen known as the inferior vena cava.
Doctors then told him the tumours could not be removed by surgery. After Seth started injecting himself three times a week for ten months, the tumours shrank.
He was then operated in 2006 and removed the remaining cancer from his liver and the vein. But cancer was again detected in his right lung in 2009.
He had an operation to remove part of the lung and has now been free of cancer for three years.
Seth, who is a popular after-dinner speaker and often discusses topics related to India, told newspersons: "It has been a long road to recovery but I feel so very lucky to be here and these days I live life to the full."
Seth has written a book titled Going Into Hospital, full of tips for patients about how to avoid diseases, and conditions such as deep-vein thrombosis, chest infections, pneumonia and superbugs such as MRSA.
Seth came to England in 1966 to continue his medical education, obtaining his FRCS in Edinburgh at the age of twenty-six. He was given The British Asian Doctor of Eminence Award for 2003, and was awarded the MBE in 2007 for services to Rotary International and the community in Nottinghamshire.
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