Dad diagnosed with advanced Larynx cancer. Only palliative chemo can be offered. I just can't get my head around it.

My dad last week was diagnosed with cancer . At first he was offered a total larynxectomy but then after further CT scans it showed the cancer had spread to his liver, kidney , vocal cords and lymph nodes. All this happened within the space of 2 weeks and we feel like we have been hit by a brick. 

They can now not operate and the only thing they can offer is 18 weeks of palliative chemo and then we wait and watch. 

My dad is, like he always is trying to be upbeat- we know it is probably just to keep us going. He is obviously off work and as a factory man with loads of friends a big close family  and a huge personality he has so much support. 

I can tell he is in pain in his throat and more tired then he has ever been but apart from that he seems fine and I just feel so upset that after these 18 weeks of chemo and 10 days of radio  they are saying that will be it . I just can’t get my head around why they can’t operate or fight or do something!!!!!!

Everything they tell us I get and it makes sense then I sit and think and google and it takes over my mind. 

  • Here if you need to talk. It's very difficult, I've been through it x

  • I am so sorry you're here and on this journey. I am in the same boat, my dad started with symptoms late last year but thought it was something completely different (not entirely different, we thought it was curable/could live with for a while) Then last month was eventually told it's stage four uncurable cancer and is not expected to be with us by the end of 2026 and he has been offered the exact same course of treatment 18 weeks of chemo to manage his symptoms and that's it. It his usual like a tonne of bricks and didn't feel real at all until last week, his first week of Chemo. It's been a real eye opener and not at all easy to go through. 

    Any questions, if you want to talk I am here. X

    Dad has Stage 4 Metastatic Prostate Cancer spread to pelvis, bones, lymph nodes, spine, liver and lungs.