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Brain Cumming, cancer patient turned skydiver

Brian's leap of faith

A cancer patient was inspired to make a leap of faith when he resigned from his office job and became a professional skydiver.

Brian Cumming had his entire large intestine removed after discovering he had a hereditary condition that would have led to terminal cancer later in life.

Brian, who has since made more than 2,000 jumps and holds two world skydiving records, said: “It was a long road back but I realised life was too short not to be doing something you enjoy.

Brian said: “It opened my eyes to the fact that life is fragile and you never know how long you have. My advice to anyone, regardless of their health, is to get busy following your dreams.”

The 41 year-old is one of more than 1,000 people on the Polyposis Registry at St Mark’s Hospital and the great grandson of ‘Patient One,’ the registry’s first patient.

The registry still keeps track of successive generations of families carrying the inherited condition of cancer carrying polyps known as Familial Adenomatous Polyposis.

The offspring of a gene carrier has a 50% chance of inheriting the condition themselves and the risk of cancer increases dramatically with age from 7% in 21 year olds to 93% in the over 50s.

Brian added: “My mother has had her large intestine removed as well and sat me down one day and said I may be affected by the same condition.

“I stuck my head in the sand about it but a procedure at St Marks’ confirmed I had the same polyps although they were appearing at a much slower rate.

“I subsequently had six feet of my intestine removed after which they join the end of the small intestine to the rectum. It was tough but it made me realise what really mattered in life.”

Brian has since run two marathons raising £15,000 for charity.

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