Dean Wharmby was a professional bodybuilder with a physique that many people dream of having.
But he also lived a very unhealthy lifestyle.
Everyday Dean forced at least 10 000 calories into his body to sustain his muscle mass. His diet consisted of a huge amount of fast food and 7-8 cans of energy drinks a day.
One day, his body gave up: Dean was diagnosed with liver cancer. The bodybuilder suspected that the huge amount of food and drink he stuffed himself with was the cause of the disease.
But the doctor soon discovered one detail that probably played a part in Dean developing liver cancer.
Bodybuilder Dean Wharmby, from Manchester, UK, was a fitness enthusiast who loved to work out, reports The Daily Mail.
As well as working as a personal trainer, he spent his time training trying to make himself as big as possible.
He normally ate 10 000 calories a day, washed down with 7-8 cans of energy drinks.
In many ways, Dean was a typical body builder – his diet mostly consisted of eggs, chicken and protein shakes. But some of his habits were a little more unconventional.
Every day Dean would eat a McDonalds meal as an afternoon snack. He would eat a pizza on his way home and when he got home his girlfriend had usually cooked a large dinner.
Add this to the fact that Dean lifted huge weights at the gym every day and it’s no suprise that he became the size of a house!
But one day, his body said ‘stop’.
Dean developed a series of health problems, and when his doctor discovered tumours in his liver, he knew it was serious.
After his cancer diagnosis in 2010, Dean changed his lifestyle completely. One of the first steps he took was cutting out energy drinks, which he had become addicted to.
He stopped eating junkfood. He cut out all red meat and sugar. Dean also decided to use natural remedies and vitamins, instead of chemo and radiation.
He was offered chemotherapy and a liver transplant, but decided to turn them down.
The strong bodybuilder slowly began to drop weight, but he was far from giving up.
Dean was convinced about what had caused the cancer:
“I can’t say it was the diet for sure, but things like the energy drinks could be contributing factors. Red meats – all things we have found out have so many impurities in them now,” Dean tells The Daily Mail.
But do energy drinks really cause cancer?
Dr Dmitri Alden, a New York based onkologist who specialises in liver diseases, is sceptical:
“It is difficult to claim that energy drinks as a group can cause liver cancer. One should look at the individual chemical composition of the products consumed by this patient and other predisposing factors before drawing any conclusions,” Dr Alden tells FoxNews.
There are also other worrying factors that came out when Dean was diagnosed with cancer. Dean’s partner, Charlotte Rigby, suspected that Dean was using steroids.
Dean himself confessed to using anabolic steroids early in his career as a bodybuilder.
Dean had been a bodybuilder for 20 years before he became sick.
When he received the cancer diagnosis in 2010 he changed his diet and began to take vitamins – which started to have an effect. In 2011 Dean’s tumour disappeared, The Daily Mail reports.
“But I got complacent. The old lifestyle crept in again,” Dean explains.
In 2013 Dean collapsed outside of the gym where he worked.
He was taken to hospital fighting for his life. Dean recovered quickly, but in 2015 everything began to go downhill.
Dean broke up with his girlfriend, was homeless for a while and the cancer returned. The doctors gave him 3 weeks to live.
The tumour had become so big that his chances of survival were non-existant.
Dean passed away in July 2015.
According to coroner Lisa Hashmi, Dean’s use of anabolic steroids had a “direct link” to his death.
The doctor also warned that this is a timely reminder of the dangers of doping.
“The most probable cause of his liver tumours was the misuse of anabolic steroids,” Dr Hashmi says.
Towards the end of his life, Dean described his battle with cancer on his Facebook page ‘Dean’s Journey’.
His girlfriend Charlotte Rigby helped him update the page.
“I know that where he is now, he is free, he is amazed, he has shook off all his illness and pain and is pure and perfect and will live forever,” Charlotte says.
Whatever caused the cancer, it’s obvious that no one deserves to go through this! Dean was a real fighter all the way to the end and hopefully his strength can inspire others.
At the same time, this story shows how dangerous doping and anabolic steroids can be – that’s something we can’t ignore!
Please share this story to honor Dean’s memory.