Warwick Smith knew something was wrong when he started to sound like 'Sean Bean's granddad'.

The court clerk could 'talk for England', but when he started to lose his voice, then couldn't shake the croaky, laryngitis-type symptoms, he began to worry. Warwick was especially concerned because three years earlier his brother Michael had died of throat cancer just two weeks after being diagnosed.

But when the 67-year-old, of Littleborough, Rochdale, went to see his GP, he was told it didn't look like there was anything to worry about. He was referred to a specialist as a precaution. Warwick spent seven months on the waiting list, until in October 2022 a last minute cancellation meant he finally got in for a scan and biopsy.

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And the news was devastating. Warwick was told he had stage 4 throat cancer and given just six months to live.

"It was really strange," said Warwick, a father of three and granddad of six. "My wife broke down, but I wasn't too bad. I'd seen it before with my brother, so I'd had chance to prepare myself."

The treatment was drastic. Warwick was told if he underwent a full neck dissection and total laryngectomy - a procedure which, in his words, would see him 'sliced from ear to ear' - followed by a gruelling course of radiotherapy and chemotherapy at The Christie, he would have a 50/50 chance of surviving five years.

After spending 10 hours on the operating table at Manchester Royal Infirmary, the procedure was deemed a success. He needed to have his voice box removed to prevent the cancer spreading further and can now only speak with the help of a tracheoesophageal prosthesis (TEP) speech valve.

And following the operation his life has changed dramatically. He's retired from work, had to give up golf, has to wake up every four hours during the night to clean out the TEP valve and is only just now getting his sense of taste back.

"My head and neck were nuked," he said. "I can only eat soft food in small amounts. And it's annoying because I can talk for England, but now there's no chance because people can't hear me.

"When I go to the pub now I'm the quiet one in the corner. I still go for two pints every night, but my drinking days are over. My wife thinks that's a good thing."

But despite everything he's been through, Warwick says he's 'quite content'. He's now in full remission, joined the Oldham Quiet Ones, a support group for laryngectomy survivors, and thrown himself into fundraising.

In the last year he's raised £25,000 through football cards and memorabilia auctions in his local the Dyer's Arms in Littleborough, a swing music marathon and donations from family and friends. The money will help buy a handheld ultrasound scanner, a portable device which can be attached to an iPhone.

It allows nurses to capture endoscopy images in community clinics and GP surgeries with the footage shared with specialists who can identify if there are any signs of cancer and report directly back to the patient within hours. And hopefully it will help save lives across Greater Manchester.

"I'm grasping life with both hands," said Warwick. "I feel like I am helping people. A good thing has come out of a bad thing.

"I think maybe that's why I was given a second chance, so I could give something back."