One year ago, Tony Frawley was honing the perfect pizza recipes in anticipation of opening his new pizzeria next to a bustling city park.
He looked forward to an exhilarating chapter ahead. But mere weeks after launching 591 by Anatoni’s, which only saw a few days of operation, he received a diagnosis that would alter his life: stage four oesophageal cancer.
“I started throwing up after eating,” recalled Tony, now 60, who shared his story with Wales Online in hopes it may prompt others to detect cancer early.
“It was just before Christmas 2023 and I was driving home from the pizzeria and I’d picked up a sandwich from Pettigrew’s [bakery]. As soon as I’d eaten it I had to pull over and I was sick. I had severe chest pains and was struggling to breathe and swallow. To start with I thought I was probably allergic to it and I moved on from it.
“Then we went to France over the Christmas period and the same thing happened again. My wife Anna booked me in the doctors and that’s when they told me I should have a camera down there and they found the 8cm cancer.”
“They told me it was stage four and I’d need chemotherapy, radiotherapy, an operation. They told me 20% of patients die from the operation so I went in there knowing how difficult it was going to be to get through it. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My life completely changed. I sat my family down and we agreed we were going to have a right good bash at it.”,
“It was the typical story for me – I’d been reluctant to go to hospital about it thinking I’d be a hindrance and knowing how busy they are. I didn’t want to waste their time or disturb them for them to tell me there was nothing really wrong with me. I never went until my wife booked me in. The simple message is if we hadn’t gone then and had the camera I’d be gone by now.”
After his early February diagnosis, Tony faced a rigorous treatment regime, enduring months of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. This led to a marathon 13-hour surgery at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff to extract the tumour that had nestled near his heart.
Following the procedure, he spent several weeks in intensive care on a life-support machine, before he could be moved to another ward where he continued his recovery until August.
“When I came out I looked like I’d been in a shark attack or something,” he reflected. “The operation was pretty colossal. In total I’ve gone from 82kg to 53kg.”
“In hindsight there may have been some signs. I used to go to the kudo martial arts club in Barry twice a week and I went through a phase where I was getting sick which I put it down to being hot and claustrophobic under the gumshield and head guard.”
Speaking on his health ordeal, he shared: “I was fatigued – sometimes a lot more so than usual – but I put it down to opening the new place and everything that comes with that. I didn’t really think about it to be honest until I started throwing up and getting the chest pain. I was so focused on opening the pizzeria and I got a real buzz off that – an adrenaline rush that kept me going and sort of made me put everything else to one side.”
“It all made sense, how I’d been feeling, after the diagnosis although there weren’t actually many symptoms that I can recall. I’ve since been told that is one of the dangers of oesophagus cancer – it can progress quickly and doesn’t show a lot of obvious signs. Most of the time I actually felt normal and yet this big tumour was growing inside me.”
Cancer Research UK lists difficulty swallowing, unexplained weight loss, feelings of indigestion, and heartburn as key indicators of potential oesophageal cancer – symptoms that Tony also experienced.
“It’s been a horrible year,” he said, but Tony has a hopeful outlook. “I don’t want to moan about it too much though because I’m here lucky to be alive. I’m told there’s a good chance I can go on to live a relatively normal and active life and this is an operation which not everyone survives. I’m very, very fortunate it seems we just caught it in time.”
He expressed regret over not being able to fully savour his time at 591 by Anatoni’s due to limited involvement over the past year, yet extended heartfelt gratitude towards the community for their unwavering support.
“I’ve had so much love – lots of customers messaging me. I’m very proud of how our team has stepped up and especially my wife. I’ve no idea how she’s got through the last year. It’s strange when you go through things like this because it’s you who gets all the sympathy and yet I’m lying there out for the count most of the time. It’s the family and what they go through that was the hardest part for me. They’ve been unbelievable.”
“When you go through something like this you feel vulnerable. I feel vulnerable. It makes you rethink what’s important in life. When you run a business and you’re in there day and night for years and years in some ways you become a bit selfish because it becomes your life and you don’t realise the sacrifices those around you have made. This has brought all that home to me.”
“I’m still alive and I feel so incredibly grateful to my family and friends and most of all our NHS. I know it sounds strange having gone through and still going through something like this but it’s been an amazing experience. How brilliant the NHS are, how brilliant the service is, and what they do in really difficult circumstances.
“There isn’t a lot to do when you’re there so I spent a lot of time sitting and watching these people working and I was just in awe. If I manage to live another 10 years I’ll look back and think what an amazing experience that was being surrounded and learning from those amazing people.”