Every morning when Stuart Craigen wakes up, he sees a pair of boxing gloves emblazoned with the words “fight it” hanging above his bed.
As he gets organised to head to work, he pulls on a pair of brightly coloured socks.
It has been the same routine for the Aberdeen driving instructor since he was diagnosed with cancer in March 2020.
“Cancer made me realise I didn’t need any darkness in my life,” said Mr Craigen. “My clothes are a lot brighter now.
“I’ve not worn a pair of black socks since, only brightly coloured ones. When I pull them on in the morning, I think ‘it’s a bright fresh new day and I’m still here’.
“My sister-in-law sent me a set of mini boxing gloves when I was diagnosed, which say fight it, and they hang above the bed. Every day I waken up and see the gloves, and that sets my positive outlook for the day.”
Mr Craigen’s bright socks will certainly make him easy to spot when he takes to the catwalk for Friends of Anchor’s Brave next month.
It is the first in a series of events that the 51-year-old is looking forward to, after declaring 2022 “his year”.
As well as Brave, there’s a Mediterranean cruise to mark his 25th wedding anniversary in June, and a trip to Wimbledon – a delayed 2020 birthday gift from his “legend” of a mother-in-law Hazel.
Lockdown diagnosis ‘absolutely horrible’
It was not just Covid that delayed Mr Craigen’s 50th birthday celebrations, however.
He was diagnosed with stage three T-cell angioimmunoblastic lymphoma, just as the country went into lockdown.
He and his wife Claire had enjoyed a long weekend in Prague, although Mr Craigen remembers he was very tired – which at the time, he put down to walking for miles doing the tourist attractions.
But after they landed back at Edinburgh Airport matters took a turn for the worse, and Mr Craigen was left doubled up over a railing, out of breath.
“I went to the doctor when I got back and was referred to the hospital,” he said.
“I got admitted and then released, but when I was back for a check-up I collapsed and was taken right back in again.”
He remained in hospital for weeks, with no visitors allowed due to the pandemic.
This meant that when doctors broke the news he had cancer, Mrs Craigen was on Facetime.
“I just remember looking at her, seeing her face and bursting into tears,” Mr Craigen, from Kingswells, said. “I’ve never been a tearful person in my life, but I just had in my mind that I’d be leaving Claire and the two boys. It was absolutely horrible.”
He underwent six rounds of chemotherapy and talks began about a stem cell transplant.
But before that could progress, Mr Craigen got Covid and spent another 10 days in hospital – with doctors advising him they already had a bed reserved in intensive care incase the virus got into his chest.
Luckily it did not, but scans showed doctors that a previous case of pneumonia in 2019 could actually have been the lymphoma.
‘Ignore the man flu jokes and get to the doctor’
Mr Craigen – who used his time in hospital to launch his own business AberDrive School of Motoring – admits the diagnosis had been a shock at the time, but in hindsight realises he had been extremely tired for months.
He believes the “banter” about “man flu” could put men off going to the doctor to be checked out.
“I kept ignoring illness for two years because of the comments you see about men being ridiculed and having ‘man flu’. All the signs were there, but I didn’t do anything.
“I didn’t think for one second in Prague that it would be cancer. Ignore the man flu jokes and get to the doctor.”
In July 2020, Mr Craigen was told he was in remission and in September underwent a gruelling stem cell transplant to keep the cancer at bay.
During this time, he developed sepsis and again his family were told to prepare for the worst.
However, he once again managed to recover and is now happily still in remission, and full of praise for the medical team who got him there.
“The nursing staff and doctors were phenomenal. Dr (Dominic) Culligan was my specialist and he’s great, and the nursing staff in haematology are brilliant – they bend over backwards to help you.
Friends of Anchor are ‘awesome’
“Friends of Anchor are awesome people and kept me company when we could have no visitors. They were always there, listening to my bad dad jokes – the ones I tell my pupils – and laughing even when they weren’t funny.
“They were so good, which is why I wanted to take up the opportunity to take part in Brave. It’s so important that anyone with cancer understands that people like that are there to support you through it.”
Mr Craigen – dad to Ross, 22, and Kieran, 20 – got back to work on April 26 last year, and is thrilled to have recently been named one of the top five driving instructors in Scotland, and in the top 100 UK-wide.
He is now gearing up for a packed summer of fun.
He said: “2020 was meant to be my big year. I was turning 50 and got tickets for Wimbledon Centre Court but couldn’t go.
“2022 is my 25th wedding anniversary. We’re going on a cruise that was put back, but we’re now doing it for our anniversary – this is our year.
“Everything that’s happening is really, really positive.”
Rehearsals for Brave are well under way, with the shows taking place at the Beach Ballroom in Aberdeen on May 5 and 6.
For Mr Craigen the experience has been a “brilliant” confidence boost. The former NECR breakfast show presenter admitted his confidence took a “battering” during his illness, but is coming back thanks to his fellow models and the Friends of Anchor team.
“I’ve got a very, very small family,” he said. “The Brave guys are like a brand new family. We’re all like brothers now, it’s phenomenal.
“I don’t know what I’ll be wearing for the show yet, but one thing is for sure – even if I’m wearing a kilt or a suit, I’ll have a pair of bright socks on with it’.”
For Brave tickets, visit the Friends of Anchor website.
