'Doctors reassured me I'd be fine - then I was told I had six month to live'

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

When Warwick Smith found himself struggling to speak at his job as a court clerk, he knew something was seriously wrong. The 67-year-old had been experiencing the strange symptom for months but doctors kept brushing it off as laryngitis.

But Warwick, from Littleborough, knew it wasn’t just a lingering cold – making visits to his GP time and time again. The grandad-of-six was repeatedly told not to worry but was referred to a specialist just to “be on the safe side”.

As months went by, Warwick's condition worsened, making it harder for colleagues at the Manchester Civil Justice Centre to understand him.

And a lingering fear weighed on his mind – his brother had passed away from throat cancer two years earlier, sparking worry it may run in the family. “I knew something was wrong, it wasn’t right, it wasn’t normal,” Warwick told the Manchester Evening News. “The doctor said it sounds like laryngitis and not to worry about it.