Lawrence Fox, 67, of Canterbury, England, said he first began noticing something wasn\u2019t right in July 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t digesting my food properly. It was basically just coming straight out of me,\u201d he said, according to SWNS News.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had the runs, my stools were very soft and as soon as I was eating, within the next couple of hours I was going to the toilet,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Fox, a former construction manager, said that doctors initially put him on antibiotics, believing he had the intestinal infection diverticulitis, which he had suffered from in the past.<\/p>\n
![\"Lawrence](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/c229242c47ebb10048ab5f0dab4f1dd2.jpeg\"\/)
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Lawrence Fox.
Credit: Lawrence Fox \/ SWNS<\/p>\n
His symptoms hadn\u2019t improved by August that year, so his doctor scheduled him for an endoscopy \u2014 which revealed nothing.\u00a0Fox was then scheduled for a CT scan in November, but he said he wasn\u2019t particularly worried.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just glad I was getting it checked out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n Fox also said that his elderly mother was extremely ill with sepsis<\/a> at the time, and he attributed several of his symptoms, including a 14-lb. weight loss, to stress.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the time, I was more worried about my mom,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n Scans, however, eventually revealed that Fox had stage 4 pancreatic cancer<\/a> and that the 3-inch tumor was inoperable, as it was so close to an artery.<\/p>\n Doctors said he may have as little as nine months to live and that he would need to begin chemotherapy.<\/p>\n \u201cThat wakes you up,\u201d Fox said of his diagnosis and treatment plan.<\/p>\n The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cMy thought was, they obviously think I can take this chemo, and they wouldn\u2019t be doing it if they didn\u2019t think there was a chance of it doing something. So, I thought, if they\u2019re going to give it to me, I\u2019ve got to give it my all,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n Fox underwent 12 rounds of chemotherapy<\/a> for nine hours a day. His tumor shrank to about half an inch in size, and was therefore no longer considered stage 4, per SWNS.<\/p>\n The formerly avid golfer has since returned to the sport, and he also now does pilates. He said he hopes to return to swimming at some point.<\/p>\n Lawrence Fox. As for Fox\u2019s advice to others? He urges anyone noticing changes in their bodies to get\u00a0checked out by a medical provider.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you don\u2019t feel right and it\u2019s to do with digestion, if you keep getting indigestion or your bowel movements change<\/a> for no apparent reason, get it checked out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt might be something, and it might be nothing \u2026 just make the phone call to get it checked out,\u201d Fox added.<\/p>\n![\"Lawrence](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/53cf68bf921343d3f477843817ca89bc.jpeg\"\/)
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Credit: Lawrence Fox \/ SWNS<\/p>\n