As a life-changing cancer blood test trial funded by the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation expands around the UK, a retired NHS nurse has spoken of how the revolutionary test kept her alive despite a shocking diagnosis.
Marilyn Bint, 73, from Ponteland, was diagnosed with cancer in September 2020 when she went to A&E feeling unwell - though at the time she thought it was just something minor.
"We thought it was maybe just an ear infection - we went to A&E only to be told I had brain tumours," she said.
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"My diagnosis came out of the blue. I hadn’t had any symptoms then felt suddenly unwell."
Luckily for Marilyn, she was able to take part in the PROSPECT-NE project which uses a blood test to analyse the genetic makeup of a tumour and help match a patient to an experimental trial.
The PROSPECT-NE project is now to form part of a larger trial - TARGET-National, which the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation will also help fund.
The team at Newcastle Hospitals, the Northern Centre for Cancer Care (NCCC) and Newcastle University will now work with counterparts in Manchester and at the Christie Hospital to expand on their work.
Dr Alastair Greystoke heads up the Newcastle side of the project. He said he was "very grateful" to the foundation and its supporters and added: "Through the project, we’ve been able to make a real difference to patient treatment and without it we wouldn’t be moving on to TARGET National.
"It will enable us to continue to offer our patients clinical trials based on genetic profiling, but also to work closely with colleagues in the North West to develop this hugely promising area of cancer research."
Top medic Dr Greystoke is an honorary medical oncologist at the NCCC and also and a senior lecturer at Newcastle University. He added that the trial so far had taught the team a great deal about how tumours work, and how we can test them. He said taking tumour samples from someone's blood was much quicker than sampling a solid tumour.
He added: "Speed and accuracy are both incredibly important in helping us deliver effective treatments to patients who may have run out of other options and have limited time available."
As for Marilyn, the blood test enabled her to be put onto a clinical trial which has - so far - allowed her to maintain her quality of life. She recently celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary with husband Adrian, and is now looking forward to watching her grandchildren learn to drive.
The keen golfer added: "Because of the locations of the tumours, nobody really wanted to do a biopsy because it was deemed too risky. There wasn’t another option until Dr Greystoke called about the blood test and to the relief of everyone my biopsy was cancelled.
"The blood test enabled the team to identify the best treatment for me and for the last year it’s been effective on the cancer in both my brain and lungs. That’s changed recently and we’re looking again at what might work better for me, again via the Sir Bobby Robson Centre and a blood test to look at the tumour profiling."
Being diagnosed with such a serious form of cancer was a sobering moment. She said: "I thought that was it, to be honest." She added: "I had no real symptoms. It's a silent killer. I have never smoked or drunk but still got this kind of lung cancer."
Though she's now undergoing chemotherapy, which "is a hit for a couple of days", Marilyn said she had largely avoided side effects and was enjoying life.
She said: "No-one believes I've got it. It’s incredible the difference the treatment has made to my life and I cannot emphasise enough how good it’s been. I’ve experienced very few side effects and can still play 18 holes of golf.
"And Adrian and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary in June last year. In 2020, we simply didn’t think that would be possible."
To support the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, visit sirbobbyrobsonfoundation.org.uk.
