Drugs trial cancer dad: I’ve never been fitter

A DAD who was down to lastchance cancer treatment has “never felt fitter”, thanks to a groundbreaking trial.

Graham Heavyside, 63, is one of just 30 head and throat cancer patients worldwide receiving the combination of two immunotherapy drugs.

He and wife Julie had just retired when he learned the disease had spread to his lungs.

Doctors said chemo was his only option and it was unlikely to be a success – but Graham is now part-way through a drug trial and his latest scan showed no sign of cancer.

Hope

Graham said: “Being diagnosed with cancer was truly devastating. This was just a chance, but it gave me and my family our lives back.

“I went on a cruise with Julie for our Ruby Anniversary and celebrated her 60th birthday in Brussels. On chemo I couldn’t have done either.”

More than 12,200 people are diagnosed with head and neck cancers every year and the trial, run by the Manchester Clinical Trials Unit at The Christie, may give hope to some.

Graham – dad to sons David, 37, and Scott, 36 – had throat and neck problems before his diagnosis at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary in January 2017.

The following month, he had his jaw wired open for a four-hour op to remove most of the tumour. And over the next seven weeks, he had seven doses of chemo and 35 doses of radiotherapy which required him to wear a head mask bolted to the bed.

Graham said: “At times, I could hardly walk from the car, I was that weak and in pain. Radiotherapy left my mouth raw and burnt so I was unable to eat.”

A feeding peg was fitted to his stomach causing Graham, who is 5ft 7in, to lose 2.5st in five months.

In August he was declared in remission and, in the months to come, he celebrated with champagne, attended son Scott’s wedding and ate his first solid meal of fried egg and beans.

But on Valentine’s Day 2019, tests revealed his cancer had returned.

Keyhole surgery at Blackpool Victoria Hospital failed to stop the disease spreading so Graham’s consultant, Dr Muthia Sivaramalingam, contacted The Christie about the international drug trial.

Graham, of Morecambe, Lancs, said he “jumped at the chance” to take part and is now 10 months in to the two-year-long therapy.

It uses a mix of two immunotherapy drugs to boost the immune system.

Dr Matthew Krebs, consultant oncologist at The Christie, said it was “a pleasure” to see Graham doing so well, and added: “Scans show no current signs of cancer.”

Graham said he was “honoured to take part in something which could benefit future generations”. He added: “I can’t thank Dr Krebs and his team enough.

“I feel like I am living with cancer rather than it consuming my life.”