“My goal is to leave cancer research in a better place than I found it.”
A Fareham cancer survivor whose own experience led her to becoming a researcher, has made a series of videos during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month to help people understand more about the disease.
Dr Catherine Pointer, faced acute myeloid leukaemia twice and was left with life-long side effects from treatment. Now she’s raising awareness by teaming up with Cancer Research UK for Children and Young People to share her experiences and expertise in information videos across their social channels.
Catherine said: “Childhood cancer is complex and different to cancer in adults and despite brilliant advances in medicine since I was ill as a teenager, there are still lots of issues that need addressing and we can’t do it without public support.
“Understanding the science around my own cancer really helped make it more bearable. For something that affects 11 children and young people a day in the UK, it’s really important to not just explain the problem, but also our solutions and why they are better, so hopefully I’ve done a good job in these videos of explaining the issues and how we’re changing medicine.”
Catherine was first diagnosed at the age of 14 and despite treatment, she relapsed at the age of 17 and required a life-saving bone marrow transplant. Instead of asking ‘why is this happening to me?’ Catherine asked her doctors ‘how is this happening to me?’ and once she was well enough to return to her studies, Catherine set her heart on finding the answers to the questions she still had about cancer.
Now Catherine is the quality assurance manager at the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre at University Hospital Southampton and oversees trials into the best new treatments offered to patients.
Catherine said: “The clinical trials my team are doing are changing medicine. We are looking at alternatives to move away from damaging chemotherapies and focus on treatments which only target the cancer, meaning fewer side effects. All of our clinical trials are testing ways to teach your immune system to recognise and target your cancer by itself.
“But some cancers only exist in children and teenagers so the difficulty with researching them is that clinical trials need large patient numbers to be absolutely confident that the results are true. For childhood cancers, we may need to collaborate internationally and then run the trial for many years to get strong numbers.
“Children are also a lot more robust than adults and have faster recovery times so this is typically reflected in their treatment, but the long-term implications of that are more severe. That’s why it’s so important that research now isn’t just about survival, it’s also about quality of life after cancer.
“Some experience issues with puberty, growth, hearing loss and infertility – the list of potential issues is long.
“The chemotherapy I had prior to my bone marrow transplant made me infertile and I went through the menopause when I was 17. It’s been well managed and with the help of my sister donating her eggs, I gave birth to my son two years ago. We had no idea if I would be able to carry a child or not as there aren’t many women like me, but all was well.
“After my transplant, they told me they really had no idea what might happen to me in the future because of the treatment. My eyesight and hearing slightly changed and I am classed as immunocompromised. I also get a lot of basal cell carcinomas – a mild type of skin cancer – and have had roughly 20 tumours removed to date, so I worry about being in the sun. I have annual appointments to check everything over inside and out and try to catch anything before it becomes a problem.
“My personal goal is to leave cancer research in a better place than I found it so that young people don’t have to worry about their future health after their treatment.
“I hope the videos Cancer Research UK and I have created help to share crucial information simply, so that people understand the importance of advancing life-saving research and breakthroughs.
“I’m also proud to show anyone affected by children’s and young people’s cancers that 19 years on from my first diagnosis, I’ve managed to create a fulfilling life for myself – something I never knew possible at the time.”
Catherine is urging people across Hampshire to help drive more progress by donating or picking up a gold ribbon badge – the symbol of childhood cancer awareness – available from Cancer Research UK shops.
She added: “With around 490 new cancer cases in children and young people in the South East every year, I hope people will do what they can to show their support.”
Cancer Research UK has helped to more than double children’s cancer survival in the UK since the 1970s. Across the UK, around 18,000 children and young people have taken part in Cancer Research UK clinical trials since 2002. Today, more than 8 in 10 children and young people diagnosed with cancer survive for at least 10 years, but there’s still much further to go.
Pick up a gold ribbon badge in Cancer Research UK shops or donate at cruk.org/childrenandyoungpeople.