Tina given six months to live... 40 years ago
WHEN Tina Poulton was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1975, she was given the earth-shattering news that she had just six months to live.
Now she is looking forward to celebrating her 81st birthday – 40 years after being told she would not live to see Christmas.
Mother-of-three Tina, from Stockport, survived the deadly disease after asking her consultant to send her to The Christie for a second opinion and taking part in a trial of a new drug.
Tina went on to become a grandmother-of-10 and is now also a great-grandmother.
Former midwife Tina said: “It was enough of a shock to be told I had cancer, but to be told I had six months to live was incomprehensible.
“I was devastated, but I wasn’t having any of it. No-one was going to tell me when I was going to die and so I told my consultant I wasn’t going to let this disease beat me and that I’d like a second opinion. I told him to refer me to The Christie.”
Tina was referred to the Withington cancer hospital, where her consultant Prof Derek Crowther told her: “We’ll try one treatment. If that doesn’t work, we’ll try something else and if that doesn’t work, then we’ll try something else again.”
Tina began a two-year trial of a drug called Melphelan, but after just 18 months she was told the cancer had gone.
The drug went on to be used to treat thousands of cancer patients over the years, but has since been replaced by newer treatments.
Tina, who lives in Norwich with her husband Alan, 80, said: “I was over the moon when I was given the all clear.
“I can’t thank the staff at The Christie enough for their care and for not giving up on me.
“Without The Christie, I wouldn’t have had the joy of watching my children grow up, or seeing my 10 grandchildren, and just last year I became a greatgrandmother and another is on the way.
“I would urge other cancer sufferers never to give up. Cancer is an illness and not always a death sentence.
“You have to fight. I beat cancer and I am living a wonderful, long life because I refused to give up.”
Around 400 clinical trials take place at any one time at The Christie today.
Prof Crowther, who has since retired, said: “Tina’s story is quite remarkable. She’s now over 80 years old.
“The likelihood of her having a good life into her 90s is very promising.”