Pioneering lung cancer treatment gives man 'with months to live' almost five years cancer-free

A pioneering treatment for lung cancer – offered at The Christie – has allowed a man to mark almost five years of being free from cancer, after he was told he had just months to live.

Bob Berry, 64, of Stockport, took part in the world-first drug trial at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester five years ago after cancer spread throughout both his lungs and doctors told him that conventional treatments would be unlikely to help.

Bob was one of the first patients in the UK to take part in this study, which was originally available at only six centres worldwide. The study, which is still ongoing globally, combines the drug with an immunotherapy treatment with the intention to make it more effective.

Immunotherapy treatments harness and enhance the innate powers of the immune system to fight cancer.

For the last five years, Bob has visited The Christie every month for drug treatment. Each month he takes tablets for one week before receiving a drug infusion for a day. He has now had 63 cycles of treatment and scans continue to show he is still completely free of disease.

Bob said: “I first found out I had cancer when I had a scan because I had a pain in my shoulder. My GP said the scan showed a shadow on my lungs so I was referred to my local hospital, where I found out it was a cancerous tumour that needed to be removed.”

Bob had surgery to remove the tumour, only to find out a few months later that the cancer was growing and had spread to his lymph nodes. It eventually spread throughout both lungs and Bob was given just 12-18 months to live. He was then referred to The Christie where he was initially treated with radiotherapy and chemotherapy but was transferred to the clinical trials unit after gaining little benefit from conventional treatment.

Bob said: “Even the doctors were amazed how well the trial went. When they told me I had 18 months at the most to live I thought I didn’t stand a chance, and I just said to myself, ‘that’s it, then’. But drugs have come on so much over the years it’s unbelievable and now, five years later, I’m still going strong. I still have to have monthly treatments but that’s a small price to pay for being given my life back.”

Bob, a retired engineer, is now enjoying life and has extra time to help out with childcare for his nieces.

Bob's consultant, Dr Matthew Krebs, said: “Bob has had a tremendous response to this treatment with his scans showing no apparent evidence of cancer after five years on the trial. This kind of response, when cancer has spread, is exceptional for patients for lung cancer and we still have much work to do to understand how these findings can help more patients like Bob in the future. Cancer is a complex disease and not every patient responds to treatment in the same way.”  

Bob said: “I was given 12 – 18 months to live but I have more than exceeded that and I feel really well and incredibly grateful every day that I was given this chance. At the end of the day, not only has this clinical trial extended my life, but it’s also nice to know that my efforts will help other cancer patients for many years to come. Anyone who is offered a clinical trial should definitely grab the opportunity with both hands.”

Bob’s study took place in the NIHR Manchester Clinical Research Facility at The Christie, one of Europe's experimental cancer medicine centres and an international leader in research and development.

Lung cancer is one of the most common and serious types of cancer and around 47,000 people are diagnosed with the condition each year in the UK.

Lung cancer is more common in older people and risk tends to increase as you get older. Exposure to smoke and smoking are the biggest risk factors and your risk increases the more years you have smoked and if you smoked more than one packet of cigarettes a day. Stopping smoking is the best way to reduce risk, but previous heavy smokers still have increased risk from their past smoking.

Other causes of lung cancer are exposure to smoke in workplaces, or sharing a house with a smoker and some past industrial hazards, most notably asbestos. Although rarer, there are some primary lung cancers in people who have not smoked or worked in industry. These happen from random cell mutations and can occur in anybody and are more likely as you become older.

There are sometimes no signs or symptoms in the early stages of lung cancer, and sometimes these small cancers are found on scans when people are being treated for different things. Many people do develop symptoms and these include:

• a persistent cough
• coughing up blood
• persistent breathlessness
• unexplained tiredness and weight loss
• an ache or pain when breathing or coughing

For more information visit: www.nhs.uk/conditions/lung-cancer/