A dad-of-four who had a pain in his side and then found a lump in his shoulder spent a year seeing multiple specialists who told him he had cancer, but they didn't know where. Construction worker Chris Russell, 54, was told the lump was a secondary tumour, meaning he had cancer that had spread from where it first originated - but medics could not find where the cancer originally came from.
Chris was told he had cancer of unknown primary (CUP) - the sixth most common cause of cancer death. Without knowing the location of the original tumour, doctors can only give a combination of chemotherapy drugs used to treat a broad range of cancers.
There are no approved immunotherapies or targeted treatments for CUP outside of clinical trials, reports MEN.
Chris said: “My diagnosis has been a rollercoaster. “I went from specialist to specialist to try and find out what was wrong. I then started to get really bad pains down one side of my body.
"They did another biopsy, and it came back as cancerous. When I got the CUP diagnosis, it was scary as I’d never heard of it before."
Chris took part in two clinical trials at The Christie and his tumour has shrunk by more than a half. As part of the trials, doctors found a gene alteration that meant he could be matched to a targeted treatment.
His primary cancer is now suspected to be melanoma, a type of skin cancer, which means more treatments are suitable.
Chris said: "It seemed like I had practically no options and the only glimmer of hope was the possibility of going on a clinical trial at The Christie. Now, not only do I have a treatment that’s working for me – my pain has pretty much gone – but I also know that my primary is probably skin cancer, which means more treatment options and more time with those I care about.
"Thanks to these trials, I’ve been able to do things like go on holiday and watch Derby County with my son. At one point, I didn’t think that’d be possible.
"Everyone at The Christie has been brilliant, I can’t thank them enough. They gave me hope when I thought there was none.”
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In one trial, CUPCOMP, researchers use genomic sequencing to identify gene alterations that act as clues as to the location of the primary tumour.
And Chris has been matched with a personalised treatment as part of the CUPISCO trial, which aims to understand whether personalised treatment options can improve outcomes.
His tumour has shrunk by over half after just three months.
