Cancer drug gives golfer eyesight back

Oct 7 2008 by Emma Davison, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Drug gives golfer his sight back

FOR years Derek Mitchell enjoyed playing golf, but a debilitating eye condition meant there was every chance he would never be able to play again.

Now the 81-year-old is getting a second chance to take a swing at his beloved sport after his eye problems were cured – by a bowel cancer drug!

The retired plastics manufacturer, of Fixby, loved playing golf and crown green bowling until he was hit by retinal vein occlusion, a debilitating eye condition which can cause blindness in the affected eye.

Derek had felt his sight worsening over a period of two years to the point where he was unable to see a golf ball any more.

He went to the Bradford-based Yorkshire Eye Hospital where he was seen by consultant ophthalmologist Oliver Backhouse, who suggested treatment with the bowel cancer drug Avastin.

Avastin, which is commonly used to treat people with advanced bowel cancer.