When Mr Larnach met Professor Sidhu four-and-a-half years ago, he was a terminally ill cancer patient.

Mr Larnach was diagnosed with adrenocortical carcinoma in 2009 shortly after being crushed by two bulls in the cattle yards on his farm near Bathurst.

An ultrasound of his chest not only revealed many broken ribs, but also a tumour the size of a grapefruit on his adrenal gland. He was given three months to live.

But that all changed for Mr Larnach when he managed to find Professor Sidhu, professor of the University of Sydney’s endocrine surgical unit, and Professor Bruce Robinson, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Sydney University and professor of endocrinology at Royal North Shore Hospital.

“I was in the operating theatre at Royal North Shore under Professor Sidhu’s expertise for seven hours,” Mr Larnach said.

“When I came out of surgery my kidney, spleen and adrenal gland, as well as the tumour, had been removed. However, I’d virtually been written off because of secondary cancers in my lungs.

“But I am still here today thanks to what Stan helped do for me. There is still that cancer in the lung so I know what he did gives me an extension on my life, not a fix.” 

Mr Larnach managed to catch up with Professor Sidhu last week while the good doctor was in town on personal business.

“Derek is one of those guys who has gone through his ordeal and is helping everyone else with his fundraising and personal networking,” he said.

“Every time I have a patient with his rare condition, I give them Derek’s number because he is only too happy to give freely of his time to talk to them and help them in any way he can.

“The cancer he had is like one in a million. Only 20 people a year around Australia are diagnosed with it and I might get to see five or six of them because word gets around.

“It’s fantastic to be able to catch up with him. He’s in good nick and coming up to five years since we operated on him. He is an extraordinary bloke.” 

Mr Larnach said both Stan and Bruce gave him constant support, giving him the highest standard of care possible, even though the situation looked as though there was little that could be achieved.

“As a community we are lucky to have access to professionals such as Professor Sidhu, his team and the local medical fraternity,” he said.

“Professor Sidhu with his team and associates are heavily involved in research of rare cancers and new forms of targeted chemotherapies as tools to extend and a provide a better quality of life for cancer sufferers. His area of expertise is the endocrine system.

“The local community has directly contributed to research in this area and more answers are evolving as a result of their input. This also may help other forms of cancer.”

In 2011 Mr Larnach started a charity called Livestock for Lives to help fund the University of Sydney’s research into the rare cancer that he had.

Since then he has raised more than $100,000 for the cause.