Man Survives Cancer, Meningitis, MRSA And A Heart Attack - Then Wife Leaves Him

After surviving three bouts of meningitis, MRSA, a heart attack and a cancerous tumour that left him paralysed, Oliver Pugh was due a change in fortune.

Then his wife left him for his best man.

The dad-of-two’s problems started in 2012 when he first went to his doctor with niggling hip pain.

Tests later showed Oliver, from Buxton, Derbyshire, had developed a cancerous tumour and he was referred to the Salford Royal Hospital, Greater Manchester.

Surgeons twice failed to remove the growth and Oliver subsequently contracted meningitis three times as a result of his spinal cord becoming infected.

Ouch: Oliver lost the end of his left thumb in an accident (SWNS)

He also lost half his thumb in an industrial accident in June 2012, and then picked up the hospital superbug MRSA when the wound became infected.

In December 2015 he suffered a heart attack - just after his wife, Grace, left him.

Oliver said: “I was definitely the unluckiest man in the world.

"I was driving in the car and there was a terrible tearing in my chest. I thought I was dying.

"I had tears coming down my face. I was accepting I was going to die. My body started jolting so I pulled into a lay-by and called an ambulance. I ended up in ICU for about a week.

"Doctors later said it was Broken Heart Syndrome, which I think was a result of me trying to struggle on with so much going on in my life.

"Fortunately because I was so young, the damage has since healed itself.”

Wedding day: Oliver’s wife, Grace, left him for his best man (SWNS)

Just a month after his heart attack, Oliver, who is dad to Millie, four, and Monroe, two, suffered another medical setback when the pressure from the tumour caused him to lose the use of his legs.

He said: “When the paralysis set in my limbs were very weak and I was wheelchair-bound. I was faced with losing my legs and the doctors were faced with the question of kill or cure.

"They said they would try to remove all the tumour again but it was the last time they would operate and whatever happens, happens. They needed to rip out the whole tumour and it could have damaged my spinal cord permanently.”

Amazingly, the former national and European Kung Fu champion defied doctors by standing on his own two feet just a day after the operation in January.

Since getting the all clear, Oliver has focused on setting up his own bar, Gilbert’s, which opened in Buxton on 9 July.

He said: “I’m really happy that I’ve gone from having no prospects to now having lots. When I got better it strengthened my resolve.”

“I had never pulled a pint before we opened and we were really busy that day so I had to learn fast.

"When you think you are going to die you don’t have time to question things, you have nothing to lose.”