DENIS LAW EXCLUSIVE: MY WIFE'S CANCER BATTLE
News 9 April 2006 DENIS LAW EXCLUSIVE: MY WIFE'S CANCER BATTLE Football hero's blow after beating disease He admits: 'It has hit us like a ton of bricks'By Charles Lavery
FOOTBALL legend Denis Law last night revealed his wife Diana is battling incurable stomach cancer - two years after he beat prostate cancer.
The 66-year-old said her condition was diagnosed a day after she got the all-clear from a blood clot which nearly killed her.
Law added: "It's hit us like a ton of bricks to be quite honest. You always think it will never happen to you again, especially after it happened to me - and when it comes to your
home it's devastating." Di, resting at home between chemotherapy sessions, added: "It's cancer of the abdomen. It's incurable but it is treatable."
Di, also 66, was a pillar of strength while Denis fought cancer and yesterday he vowed he would be at her side in her time of need.
In a heart-rending and searingly honest interview, the couple - who have been happily married for 44 years - revealed how:
They thought the spectre of cancer would never darken their home again after he beat it in 2003.
Di almost died last August after she developed a blood clot in her lung.
Their lives stood still when the doctors who gave Di the all-clear over the blood clot told her a day later she had cancer.
Medics told them they had missed the cancer during scans for the blood clot and it was now too late to operate.
The man dubbed The Lawman has been nursing Di at their detached villa near Manchester.
Denis, a legend with Scotland, Manchester United, Torino and Manchester City, beat prostate cancer in December 2003 after finding an egg-shaped lump.
Last month, he flew into Scotland without Di to be at the funeral of his old friend, Celtic legend Jimmy 'Jinky' Johnstone.
Friends realised the extent of Di's illness by her inability to say goodbye to their lifelong friend.
Speaking at his home, he said: "Around about the beginning of August we almost lost her with a blood clot, a pulmonary embolism which we got blasted away. Two weeks before Christmas we got the all-clear on that and it was magnificent - it was such a relief.
"But the next day the doctors called us to say they had found a scan which they hadn't seen before in great detail and there was something there they weren't too happy about.
"Di went back in mid-January and had a biopsy and it came back that it was cancer. It was devastating.
"She's not too good at the moment and had her second dose of chemotherapy last Monday.
"It's a long process and she's on steroids. She has to have six sessions of chemotherapy- she's had two already.
"After the third one she'll have a scan and we'll know better then what effect the chemotherapy has had.
"It's been a hectic time for us all. Di's condition is incurable but treatable and we can only hope it goes into remission.
"That's what we are really, truly hoping for. We can only keep our fingers crossed.
"When I had it we were the same - you've just got to keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best.
"We're not absolutely certain on this but had they not treated the embolism in August they may never have found the cancer, so it's perhaps both a curse that she has it and a blessing - because of the blood clot we're hoping they found the cancer in enough time.
"It's been a desperate time since August. You could say as far back as 2003 when I had my cancer scare."
Denis added: "We were married in 1962 and have been together since.
"Christmas was not very good at all - from having the all-clear to getting that bombshell.
"When you have something like that you think, 'Oh my God' but staff at Withenshaw Hospital and Christie's in Manchester are just saints.
"They have been marvellous and I can't thank them enough."
Denis and Di are still smiling and optimistic against all the odds.
He said: "Now it's a case of pushing on and hoping we can get it into remission.
"We're praying that helps with the prognosis but we have to wait until after the third chemotherapy session to find out.
"I'm doing my best and the family are doing theirs to look after her. She's shaking her head at me saying my cooking has got better, so there's nothing wrong with her sense of humour."
A close family friend added: "They have not had their troubles to seek over the past few years - especially with the deaths of Jinky and old pal George Best in November.
"It's testament to them that they are getting ready for yet another battle and facing it with good spirits and an unbreakable bond."
Denis and Di met as teenagers in an Aberdeenshire dance hall.
He thought she was posh as he was the youngest of seven children and lived in a council tenement in the city.
Denis did not own a pair of shoes until he was 14 and his first pair of football boots was a gift from a neighbour.
He retired from professional football in the summer of 1974.
Since then, Denis has often worked as a summariser and presenter for radio and television.
He and Di have five children and their daughter, also Diana, works as a press officer for Manchester United.
Denis was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Aberdeen on July 5, 2005. After his own prostate cancer scare was over in December 2003, he admitted how lucky he was to have beaten the disease.
He said: "I'm still a reasonably fit guy and I knew there was something wrong.
"I didn't have to be told twice to see the doctor. I was lucky."
Cancer of the abdomen is one of the hardest to beat, with less than 40 per cent of its victims living past the first five years, according to Sunday Mail doctor Gareth Smith.
A positive attitude and outlook are the two most important factors in beating it into remission.
Dr Smith added: "Usually the cancer will have been in your body growing fast for a long time before you notice it.
"Most people think they have an ulcer or something minor like that, so that by the time it's discovered it's pretty advanced.
"There are lots of blood vessels around the stomach and abdomen, which the cancer will feed on, which is why Di's doctors have put her on chemotherapy.
"They want to try to stop everything growing in her body and try to stop the cancer's growth.
"The patient's attitude is one of the most important things in the fight. People who give in to it die quicker than those who fight to the last.
"It should have been picked up back when the initial scans were taken in August.
"A radiologist's job is to report everything he or she sees on a scan.
"If it was my mother I would be absolutely furious at such a delay with such a fast-growing cancer."
It has been a desperate time since 2003 when I had my cancer scare
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