Andrew Williams had to watch his son Nathan’s achievements from his hospital bed
A dad was left shocked after going to A&E with chest pains. Andrew Williams, 49, from Higher Bebington in Wirral, has been supporting his 17 year-old Nathan over the years as he embarks on a career in motorsport.
Nathan started off with competitive video game-style sim racing before moving to real-life competitive races judged by professional motorsport players. He has managed to balance this with his studies at Wirral Grammar School.
However, when Andrew took Nathan to February’s BRSCC Fiesta Junior Scholarship championship in Lincolnshire, he ended up in A&E instead of cheering his son on. Speaking to the ECHO, Andrew said: “Me and his grandad, my father-in-law, went there with him for the race. I’d been ill for three weeks with flu-like symptoms. I’d been given antibiotics, and then at one stage a doctor called it walking pneumonia.
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“That morning, I had to go into A&E because I had real bad chest pains. It was surreal really, because I went in and they did all sorts of tests, they said everything’s fine, but your white blood cell count is really high. I sat around all day before being transferred to a hospital in Hull. As soon as I walked through the doors at about 10.30pm, I was taken into a room, and they said, we strongly suspect you’ve got leukaemia.
“It was so late at night, I didn’t want to wake my wife up, so I was there on Valentine’s morning. Then I was transferred to Liverpool Clatterbridge Cancer Hospital. I was there for about two days and then I was moved over to intensive care at the Royal because I was in quite a bad way. I was in intensive care for five days there. Once the chemotherapy started kicking in, I improved enough to be moved back to Clatterbridge.”
Andrew had acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), which is an aggressive cancer. Treatment for AML needs to begin as soon as possible, as it can develop quickly. In the weeks that followed, Andrew struggled to come to terms with his diagnosis. He said: “The type of leukaemia I had is acute myeloid leukaemia. You’ve got about three to four weeks early on to have the surgery. Otherwise you’re done in really.
“It just felt surreal. I’ve never had any illness or anything. It just came from nowhere. Then you have moments of self doubt and think, will I get to see Nathan do his GCSEs? Will I see him get his scholarship?
“The chemotherapy wasn’t too bad for me. I haven’t got much hair to lose anyway. It was more the treatment. You have no immune system, so you pick up anything. I had sepsis twice and E. coli. You’d just pick up all sorts of stuff. That was the worst bit. There’s been times where I’ve been in such a bad way more through the actual treatment than the leukaemia.”
Thankfully, Andrew had the strong support of his family during this time, including his wife Sarah, and his employers at Very, as well as great treatment from doctors and nurses. He was also cheered up when he got to watch Nathan racing from his hospital bed.
Andrew said: “Nathan’s really level headed. I just said, make me proud of what you do. He was doing his GCSEs and some racing. He did the OT Coupe Cup in March which he dominated. That was nice to watch from the hospital bed. His younger brother Zach, who’s 14, has autism. He’s always been amazing for him as well.”
After each round of chemotherapy, Andrew always faced an anxious wait to find out how he was doing. He said: “You have to wait for about three weeks before you get your results.
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“The doctors were saying that they’ve got a number of patients who were down to that level, and then we don’t even monitor them now after five years. For the fourth round, I was accepting I’d still have a residual level of leukaemia detectable at a biological level from bone marrow.”
However, Andrew was given the all clear last month and was able to fully return home. He said: “Everything’s gone as well as could be expected. I’ve got to come back in December to see whether that’s still negative which hopefully it is. They can closely monitor me every two months or so and over time the risk of it coming back decreases. I think things are going pretty good.”
In a full circle moment, Andrew headed to Lincolnshire again last month, with Nathan reaching the final of the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Scholarship at Blyton Park race track. Competing over three days against a field of 60 hopefuls, including seasoned karting racers and drivers from established motorsport families, Nathan impressed judges with his skills and ultimately secured a place in the final six.
While Nathan didn’t secure the ultimate prize of a full year in a Fiesta Junior team his performance earned him valuable funding for future races. Andrew is proud to see what Nathan has achieved in the last few months. After flourishing in his GCSEs, he has now started his A-Levels as well as continuing to improve in motorsport.
He said: “I was actually like in the hostpital room watching him in the coupe racing on my iPad. People in motorsport were speaking so well of him. They were basically saying, where’s he come from? He’s doing amazing. Everyone I’ve come across has been really nice. It’s such a positive thing.”
Nathan is now focused on competing in real-world events next year and is looking for sponsorship opportunities. You can find out more via his Instagram, @nathan_williams.32.