New Scan Results

Dunfermline-born Paralympic champion David Smith MBE, who was given “four months to live” earlier this year, has said new scan results showing his cancer has shrunk have given him fresh hope for the future.

The London 2012 gold medallist, who is receiving rehabilitation following a spinal cord injury which left him quadriplegic, said tumours in both his brain and spine had responded to treatment.

Writing in a first-person article for sister title The Herald, the 47-year-old said the latest results were “undoubtedly the best news” of his week.

“The scans revealed that my cancer has shrunk yet again,” he said.

“Not only are the tumours in my brain continuing to respond, but the tumour compressing my spinal cord has reduced further too.

After everything that has happened this year, hearing those words felt almost surreal.”

Rehabilitation Progress

David said the latest scan had changed the focus from simply surviving to looking ahead.

“Only a few months ago I was lying in a hospital bed after becoming paralysed from the neck down,” he said. “Conversations centred around palliative care. The future was measured in months rather than years. Every day felt uncertain. Every symptom carried a question mark.

Nothing has suddenly become easy, I remain a quadriplegic. I still require help with every aspect of daily life.

But medicine has given me something priceless: time.

Time to rehabilitate. Time to fight. Time to dream again.”

The former rower has been undergoing three or four physiotherapy sessions each day as he attempts to regain movement and sensation.

He said small improvements, including more movement in his fingers and returning sensation across his upper body, have become hugely significant.

“This week a few more fingers began to move,” he said. “Sensation has continued spreading across my upper body.

Every new feeling reminds me that my spinal cord is still trying to reconnect.”

David has also been using a robotic walking machine, allowing his legs to experience the movement pattern of walking again.

He said: “Whether my brain can eventually reclaim that movement remains unknown, but giving the nervous system that repeated pattern feels like another investment in possibility.”

The Paralympian also reached a personal best on a tilt table, standing at 60 degrees while maintaining stable blood pressure.

“A few weeks ago that would have seemed impossible,” he said.

“My blood pressure remained stable, another small victory that probably means little to most people but represents another brick in rebuilding my independence.”

Looking Ahead

David admitted the demands of rehabilitation have left him physically and emotionally exhausted, with every session requiring “belief without guarantees”.

However, he said the latest test results, alongside the small improvements in his movement, had given him renewed motivation.

“Progress is rarely spectacular,” he said. “It is wonderfully ordinary.

One degree higher. One finger stronger. One sensation further. One more reason to believe tomorrow might look different.”

Reflecting on the months ahead, David added: “I don’t know exactly what lies ahead. Recovery from a spinal cord injury is measured over months and years, not days.

There will undoubtedly be setbacks. There will be frustrations. There will be days when hope feels distant again.

But today, hope has something solid beneath it. Evidence. A shrinking tumour. Moving fingers. Returning sensation.”

He added: “For now, that is more than enough reason to keep fighting tomorrow.”