Arthur Glasford has always been a mild-mannered character (think Clark Kent).
Stoic, unflustered and routinely cool under pressure describes Arthur to a tee, so hearing that the brother I have known since our days patrolling the Eastern parishes together as constables on D Watch in the early 1990s has survived cancer – twice! – was not all that shocking.
Of course Arthur survived cancer! Nothing can ruffle Arthur!
Yet even a man who may well have an alter-ego from the planet Krypton has to pause and reflect when he hears the word “cancer” come out of his doctor’s mouth. Cancer, in any form, is the quintessential conflict of any narrative – and a certain turning point in every human story it has ever touched. For this man, that story began with a series of early morning nosebleeds in 2020.
“This went on from February to March,” Arthur said.
“I was having nosebleeds, almost daily, around 5.30 in the morning. One of my nostrils, pretty much every day, just blood coming out – and that’s not normal. That’s the body trying to tell you something.
“I went to my GP and, eventually, I had to practically plead for a referral to a specialist, because he was trying to diagnose it himself. So, I got to go to an Ear Nose and Throat specialist, Dr Philip Bell, who was practising in Bermuda at the time.
“From the scans they took, Dr Bell could see I had a blockage in my nostril that could be corrected with a routine surgery. By August, Dr Bell had removed about 80 per cent of the polyp that was blocking my nostril, but he had found something else as well.
“When I went back to him for my check-up after the surgery, I noticed that he had this doom and gloom look on his face, like what he had to tell me would hurt him to say more than it would hurt me to hear.
“That was when he sat me down and told me that the polyp they had found was not benign, but actually a rare form of skin cancer called squamous cell carcinoma.”
This diagnosis led to a whirlwind of treatment, including several trips to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston for more surgeries. The priority quickly became removing the remainder of the cancerous polyp before it had any chance to spread – the proximity to Arthur’s brain was a pressing concern.
For Arthur, this was simply a call to do whatever he had to do to survive this disease – including 33 rounds of radiation at Bermuda Cancer and Health Centre after the experts in Boston cleared the malignant polyp out of his nostril.
“That was the challenging part for me, because it involved being fitted with a mask that pressed down on my face – and I’m claustrophobic!” he said.
“Every day from October to December, except weekends, I endured a half-hour radiation treatment session. I had to be bolted to a table: I couldn’t get up, I couldn’t even turn my head. But I got through it, because this was my life; and after the radiation treatment for 33 rounds, my scans came back clear.”
Arthur’s most recent tests show that he is still clear of squamous cell carcinoma, and he said having a positive attitude and a small circle of staunch supporters were key factors that helped him through the entire ordeal. Cancer, however, was not finished with our hero yet.
Fast-forward to 2022, and Arthur is shaken with another diagnosis. Scans during treatment for a bout of Covid-19 revealed a dark spot on Arthur’s diaphragm: a dark spot that would eventually be diagnosed as Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.
“So, it’s back to the whole thing of, ‘How am I going to deal with this?’ Emotionally, it really messed me up – like, I’m here saying, ‘Why Me?’ I’m thinking I’ve got one foot going in the right direction, I’m getting pulled back, right?”
At this point, Arthur had an opportunity to do a training course at the FBI Academy in the United States, and this proved extra motivation to get through this second major setback.
Perhaps the most fortunate aspect of those taxing years was that both cancers were detected at an early enough stage to treat them effectively.
“Both cancer diagnoses, luckily, were in the early stages, which is good. Well, it’s not good to say that you have been diagnosed with cancer, but it’s good to catch it early so treatment can start.”
Radiation treatment began on the Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in late 2022. By April 2023, Arthur was able to attend his FBI training course.
Of course, the doctors advised Arthur to go easy on physical activity, as radiation takes a heavy toll on the body – but he trod on.
“I got through my FBI training course, physical activity and everything. I managed to get through it. Didn’t ask for any favours, did everything that was expected of me – so I graduated from the FBI Academy in June 2023, and here I am today.”
Talking to him, you get the impression that Arthur is prouder of graduating from the FBI Academy last year than he is to be a two-time cancer survivor. That’s who he is though – a rock who has always made it a priority to serve Bermuda. He even said that he faced his first diagnosis more as “Arthur the police officer than as Arthur the human being”.
This steadfast sense of duty and devotion to those closest to him served him well during his cancer journey, which still isn’t finished. He has been clear of squamous cell carcinoma for four years now, and the Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma has been dormant for over a year. Unfortunately, the Lymphoma tends to return – but he will be ready if it does come back.
If you see Chief Inspector Arthur Glasford on the street, wish him well, and ask him to show you the S he wears under his white uniform shirt.
