Miracles happen when science progresses! Jasmin David, a 51-year-old Indian-origin woman from Manchester, was given just months to live a few years ago due to breast cancer. Now, doctors have declared that she is showing no evidence of cancer, after undergoing a clinical trial at a UK hospital.
She was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer in 2017 when she found a lump above the nipple, and now she feels "reborn" after scans showed no cancer evidence.
David had previously undergone six months of chemotherapy and a mastectomy in 2018. This was followed by 15 cycles of radiotherapy which had cleared her body of cancer. But the worse was not yet over and in October 2019, the cancer returned and scans showed multiple lesions throughout her body. The cancer had spread to the lungs, lymph nodes and chest bone. David was given the heartbreaking news that she had only less than a year left to live.
Two months later, David was given the opportunity to be part of research by participating in a Phase I clinical trial. She agreed to be a part of it for the benefit of the next generation, even if it worked out for her or not.
"When I was offered the trial, I didn't know if it would work for me, but I thought that at least I could do something to help others and use my body for the next generation. At first, I had many horrible side effects including headaches and spiking temperatures, so I was in hospital over Christmas and quite poorly. Then thankfully I started to respond well to the treatment," she said.
David's two-year trial at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Manchester Clinical Research Facility (CRF) at Christie NHS Foundation Trust involved an experimental medicine combined with Atezolizumab, an immunotherapy drug administered intravenously which she continues to have every three weeks.
"I celebrated my 50th birthday in February 2020 while still in the middle of treatment and not knowing what the future held. Two and a half years ago I thought it was the end and I now feel like I've been reborn," David said.
By June 2021, scans showed no cancer in her body and she was declared cancer free. David told BBC Radio Manchester that it was emotional returning to India with the good news, after having gone two years before to say her goodbyes. She will remain on treatment until December 2023 but still has no evidence of the cancer.
David is now excitedly looking forward to celebrating her 25th wedding anniversary in September, after the successful National Health Service (NHS) trial.
(With inputs from PTI)
