‘Treatment has worked –I feel like I’ve won cancer lottery’

An Aberdeen grandmother says she feels like she has “won the cancer lottery”.

Colleen McKenzie was told she had just months to live after being diagnosed with metastatic bowel cancer in November 2021.

Surgeons ruled out operating on the 67-yearold as the tumours, also in her liver and duodenum were too big and too close to other vital organs.

They advised there was no treatment available, but carried out a liver biopsy to try and identify the genetic markers to determine her cancer type.

This investigation offered Colleen a glimmer of hope: her cancer matched the criteria for immunotherapy.

Colleen, whose husband Alan died of cancer in 2019, said she wanted it – despite advice she was too “frail” to cope with it.

The mother of two, who stays in Seaton, said: “Immunotherapy had just been licensed for my type of cancer.

“I was told it would be palliative but hopefully it could give me a longer life. I knew I had to try.

“I told my daughter ‘it’s not going to take me, it took your dad but it won’t take me’”.

Colleen started the treatment in April 2022 and her six-month scans showed it was successfully reducing the tumours.

“My consultant, the brilliant Leslie Samuel, admitted that he didn’t think he’d see me after my initial appointment – he thought I’d be gone, and estimated I had 10% chance of survival.

“But the tumours have kept reducing with each treatment. In February, he told me the tumour in my bowel and duodenum is

now just scar tissue. I feel I’ve won the cancer lottery.”

Her case will now be discussed at an upcoming oncology conference, and Colleen hopes her story will encourage others to keep fighting.

She first went to the doctor in August 2021 after having diarrhoea every morning for weeks.

Initial tests were inconclusive but a second colonoscopy and a CT scan showed she had a large tumour on her upper colon.

She was dealt a further blow in November 2022, when she had emergency surgery for a blocked bowel. This resulted in her being fitted with a stoma.

At the time, she was the manager of shoe shop Street Stompers but she was forced to give up work.

“Without my stoma, which I’ve nicknamed Wilfred – my pet name for my husband – I wouldn’t be here, I know that.

“But I had to give up work and was devastated. I’d been there for 30 years and loved my job.”

In another twist, Colleen was in hospital when her mother’s care home called to advise she was dying.

Colleen and her daughter Amanda raced to get there, but missed the chance to say goodbye by minutes.

Colleen, who is also mum to Paul, said: “It’s been pretty tough, these last few years. But I’m still here.

“My daughter Amanda has been my absolute rock – taking me on trips around Scotland with her husband Tom, and coming to appointments with me.”

Next weekend, Colleen will take part in Courage on the Catwalk to fundraise for Friends of ANCHOR.

Naturally quite shy, the grandmother of three said was encouraged to apply by her daughter and a friend.

“I never thought I’d get picked, but it’s an absolute honour,” she said.

“My confidence has been knocked a bit by everything, which I’d not realised until I started Courage. I feel it coming back now though.

“I just want people to believe in themselves. If you’ve got a positive outlook, you can and will beat cancer – I’m proof of that.”

To support Colleen, visit www.justgiving.com/page/ colleenmckenzie-1707429231391

Colleen says her daughter Amanda has been her rock during her illness.