I’m super healthy so just put my back pain down to a ‘pulled muscle’ – it was deadly cancer

DAVID Cook had nary hint his "pulled" musculus could beryllium a motion of thing deadly.

"I ne'er expected erstwhile I archetypal experienced backmost symptom that this was the cause, it was the furthest happening from my mind," the 66-year-old dad-of-four explained.

In May, aft struggling with lower achromatic pain, David, who works arsenic a lawyer successful New York, US, consulted the assistance of a physiotherapist.

He said: "Over a play of astir a month-and-a-half, I was stretching and what not but determination was nary relief.

"I thought it was property oregon a pulled muscle."

After his symptoms failed to amended David was referred to a spinal specialist.

They recovered David had unknowingly broken his back 40 years ago, astir apt during 1 of his adventurous skiing holidays.

"I played a batch of sports arsenic a kid and skied a batch truthful it could've been from a fig of spectacular skis crashes," helium explained.

The medic said the interruption had healed connected its ain and that it was thing other that was causing his pain.

Further tests revealed a baseball-sized tumour suspected to beryllium increasing successful David's kidney for the past 10 years, which turned retired to beryllium cancerous.

"I was prepared to beryllium told I had six months", David said.

"Me and my woman person this extremity to spot each continent and each the nationalist parks, and my top anguish would beryllium not being capable to bash that.

"We inactive privation to bash that. I was anguished astatine the thought of my woman being alone. She was precise supportive."

The diagnosis came arsenic a daze to David.

"I'm successful bully shape, I ne'er fume oregon drink. I unrecorded a precise steadfast manner truthful I thought wherefore me? I was doing each the close things," helium said.

The dada underwent an operation wherever the cancerous tumour was removed and his kidney was luckily saved.

David was told the symptom was caused by some the tumour and a information known arsenic cardiac amyloidosis - a uncommon illness that occurs erstwhile abnormally folded proteins called amyloid fibrils physique up successful the bosom muscle, impairing its function.

David said: "The backmost symptom helped prevention my life.

"I truly thought it was conscionable a pulled muscle."

"The doc really told maine that the backmost symptom had saved my life.

"Without that pain, the tumour would've conscionable kept increasing and it would've been a precise antithetic conversation.

"I consciousness large and precise grateful and lucky."