Chester grandfather who survived risky experimental surgery in plea for new wheelchair

He was given just a one in four chance of surviving the procedure, which sees the tumour-ravaged section cut out and reconstructed with metal and even horse bone.

Martin, now 61, was informed that the only two patients who had previously undergone the surgery had died in the operating theatre.

But he saw it as his only chance of long-term survival and agreed to go under the knife.

“It was either die on the operating table or die of cancer anyway,” he told the Standard. “I just had to go for it.”

Father-of-two Martin, who lives in Great Boughton, said the first operation took 21-and-a-half hours but had to be aborted as his heart kept stopping.

Two weeks later he was back at the Birmingham hospital for another 19-and-a-half-hour procedure, this time being given just a one in six chance of survival. It proved a success.

The cancer was gone but Martin – who had enjoyed a career in the film industry travelling the world - was then faced with 18 months of lying flat while his spine healed.

Unfortunately the sciatic nerve, which runs from the back to the toes, did not knit leaving him with no feeling from the waist down.

He has been in a wheelchair ever since and as the pressure on the bottom of his spine becomes increasingly painful he now desperately needs a new reclining wheelchair.

Encouraged by his daughter Shannon, he set up a

which has so far raised more than £2,500 towards the cost of the £12,000 chair.

“After such a long time in pain and discomfort I would love to have a normal quality of life,” said Martin, whose wife Jacqueline sadly passed away three years ago from cancer.

“The idea is I could lay the chair back when it starts getting too painful and that would relieve the pressure for a while. It means I could get out and about with my grandchildren for longer than 20 minutes at a time and it would be great to go to the football!”

A die-hard Liverpool FC fan who grew up in Ellesmere Port, Martin considers himself lucky the cancer - called chordoma - was spotted in time for his operation to be a success.

It came about as he had been in and out of hospital for 10 years, undergoing a total of 18 operations after contracting an unknown virus while filming a commercial in Brazil in 2002.

“They never found out what that virus was but it triggered my body into producing abscesses,” he said. “It was horrendous.”

He found himself unable to continue his work as a film industry ‘grip’, which required him to create rigging and mounts for cameras in order to get the perfect shot.

“In 2012 I was finally ready to go back to work when the cancer diagnosis came through,” said Martin.

“They said they had an experimental operation they wanted to try on me but said there was a one in four chance of survival. They cut about 2.5 inches of the spine out and rebuild it using metal, bone and horse bone. I remember the doctor telling me that and thinking ‘Oh my God!’.”

Despite now sporting rods and plates in his back and having to get about in a wheelchair, Martin remains upbeat and philosophical.

He has taught himself to drive again, saying it was just a case of reprogramming his muscle memory, and gets out and about as much as the pain and his current chair allow.

“There are only two options,” said Martin, who has three grandchildren, Charlie, Sophie and Richard, aged between three and five.

“You either accept it, get on with your life and try to make the most of what you can or you go the other way, never go out and end up depressed. The way I see it you just have to be as positive as you can at all times.”

* To help Martin raise enough money for a new reclining wheelchair visit