Written by Becca Guiller on 15th June, 2026
Mark was a fit and healthy, 49-year-old family man with a dedication to Middlesbrough FC and creative talent for writing. Living with his wife and two sons, life was exactly how it should be until Mark starting to notice some strange symptoms. He kept feeling like he was wearing wet socks and had pain in his ankles. He couldn’t explain the feeling away and so did the right thing and went to the doctor to see if they could advise. That’s when things took an unexpected turn.
Initially, the doctor wasn’t sure what was going on and so sent Mark to get some blood tests which included checking for paraproteins. The results showed that Mark’s paraprotein levels were too high which meant that he had to have an MRI scan, PET scan and a bone marrow biopsy over the course of the next few weeks. Shortly after these tests, Mark was informed that he had myeloma in his bone marrow.
Mark said, “It was obviously an incredible shock. I knew something wasn’t quite right, but it was a really terrible shock.”
“They kept saying to me, “you’re so young, it’s unlikely to be cancer. It will be fine””.
“I’ll never forget the day the consultant said “I’m really sorry but you’ve got 35% cancer cells in your bone marrow”. It was like an out of body experience. It just felt like it was happening to somebody else.”
Treatment wasn’t needed immediately as Mark had what they call “smouldering myeloma”, so instead he was asked to go back every three months to check on the paraprotein levels.
“It was a very odd thing to be told you have cancer but we’re not going to do anything about it”.
“The first thing that goes through your mind is, how long have I got?”
Although myeloma is incurable, Mark’s consultant was somewhat positive about this and didn’t give Mark a set amount of time. He explained that a huge amount of progress is being made in research and new treatments and explained that from the time Mark started treatment he would maybe have 8-10 years.
“I immediately thought will I still be around for my kids for the next decade to get them through school and onto the rest of their lives”.
Mark’s wife continues to be incredibly supportive and to help cope with the mental toll that a diagnosis has on someone, Mark learned to swim, he did yoga and tried to keep fit in various ways. However, his “insane passion” for football has always been his way of taking his mind off things. As a Middlesbrough fan, he has seen the club go through many highs and lows but on the year of his diagnosis (2016) the club were promoted to the premier league which was very poignant for Mark (even though the promotion didn’t last that long!)
As a child, writing was Mark’s hobby, he was then a journalist for 14 years and continued writing post diagnosis to update his friends and family. He found it therapeutic to write about his cancer experience and really enjoyed it.
“I found the mental side of it almost as difficult as the physical side of it, due to the uncertainty”.
“I’ve talked to therapists and councillors and that has been really helpful, and I would encourage people in this situation to not bottle things up. Do everything you can to talk because it makes a massive difference.”
After six months of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant in 2021, he started to write about his experience and as it started to take shape, he started to think about football and the impact it has had on his life. How it has helped him through so many things in his life, in particular, cancer treatment.
A key memory for Mark is when he was watching an important match in his living room with his two sons. He had gone through so much physical and mental suffering at this point, but when Middlesbrough scored the winning goal and they celebrated, he thought “how is it possible for feel this elated” considering everything he had gone through.
His connection to the club, community and the chairman is something he holds dearly and motivated him to write “A love letter to football”. He hopes that the book will help people who have been diagnosed with myeloma and show that there is life beyond the diagnosis.
“A Love Letter to Football" is a beacon of hope for people with a cancer diagnosis, reminding us that even in our darkest moments, the power football and community can help you see life beyond the diagnosis.
You can purchase Mark's book from most major retailers, and you can also request it from your local bookstore.
Our conversation with Mark is also available to listen to in full on our Spotify channel.
