Saved by US op, cancer mum told there was no hope
A CANCER patient who was told she was terminally ill eight years ago is now clear of the disease after undergoing pioneering treatment.
Mother- of- two Jane Hollywood developed a tumour between her ribs having already beaten breast cancer once before.
But she refused to give up hope when her doctors said there was nothing they could do.
After searching for alternative treatments she found CyberKnife in the United States – a robotic radiosurgery system which delivers beams of high dose radiation direct to tumours.
She travelled to the US for the treatment and is now fighting fit.
She said: “I am healthy, happy, pain free and cancer free and have been for many years.”
Mrs Hollywood, 52, from Pwllheli, north Wales, was treated for breast cancer in 2004 but started getting a pain in her armpit four years later.
She said: “It turned out I had a 3.5cm tumour in between my ribs. It was inoperable, and traditional radiation was impossible due to me having it previously.”
She said she was told should “make the most of time she had left”.
She turned to researching alternative treatments which is when she came across CyberKnife in Atlanta, Georgia.
Mrs Hollywood added: “I was she the repeatedly told I would not survive. My oncologist fought to discourage me from going for the treatment saying there was no way it would work.”
But she was determined not to be discouraged and in 2009 she flew to the US with her husband John and youngest daughter Manon.
CyberKnife cost £ 42,000, but she got support from the WellStar Foundation charity and her doctor waived his fee, leaving her with a bill of £ 9,800.
She added: “I was devastated when I was diagnosed. Ceri was 17 and Manon was 13. All I could think of was that they would lose their mum at a critical age and that John would have to be mum and dad to them while grieving himself.
“That’s what prompted me to get online and look for alternatives to the slow death they were offering me.”
Mrs Hollywood, who was given the all- clear six years ago, is now urging other sufferers not to give up hope and to do as much research as possible.
She said: “There are so many people out there who would benefit but who may not be told about it by their doctor. I don’t want to give false hope to those who would not benefit. There are people out there who are receiving the best treatment possible, but the only way to find out is to look and ask the questions.”
Emlyn Samuel of Cancer Research UK said: “Stereotactic radiotherapy is an exciting and emerging type of cancer treatment. As it’s very precise at targeting tumours, higher doses of radiotherapy can be given in fewer doses so patient’s face fewer trips to the hospital.
“Cancer Research UK is funding a number of clinical trials to test whether this type of treatment would also be effective in other hard to treat cancers including pancreatic cancer, lung cancer that cannot be operated on, and cancers of the breast and lung that have started to spread.”