Dad-of-three Lee Young thought he had pulled a muscle while playing golf. But as he rubbed heat cream into his side one day, he discovered a lump that hadn't been there before.
Medics told him not to be alarmed, that the lump was only 'gristle'. After being sent for some investigative tests however, Lee found that at just 55-years-old, he was being diagnosed with a rare, incurable form of cancer.
A scan revealed an 8.5cm-long tumour near his kidneys - the location made it inoperable. The tumour was also found to be a secondary cancer with doctors being unable to discover the root cause of Lee's disease, called cancer of the unknown primary (CUP), making it all the harder to treat.
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Lee, a garage owner from Denton, said he went to Tameside Hospital and received the devastating news that he would be 'sent to The Christie Hospital to be made comfortable' in October, last year.
"My world collapsed around me," he told the Manchester Evening News . "Being told you have cancer is one thing, but being told they can't do anything is another thing entirely. I couldn't get my head around it, if you're going to get a cancer, this isn't a great one to get."
But Lee says that when he got to The Christie specialist cancer hospital in January, his outlook changed and he discovered it to be an 'unbelievable hospital'. The sheer positivity of staff and patients turned his mood around, then Lee was offered a place on a clinical trial to test out a new form of treatment.
"I was scared to death and quite nervous, but the nurses at The Christie made me feel so welcome. In March, a clinical trial became available and it's quite rare to be able to get on a clinical trial, but I thought if it doesn't help me, it'll help someone in the future," explained Lee.
"If we don't have these trials, we wouldn't be where we are today. And if mine is an unusual cancer today, maybe one day it will be a curable cancer thanks to this process.
"Now I feel like there's no point in being sad over something you can't control."
The phase II clinical trial called CUPISCO aims to understand whether personalised treatment options, with either targeted treatments or immunotherapy, can improve outcomes for certain CUP patients. Lee waited for the trial and - amazingly - his tumour has now shrunk by over half after three rounds of chemotherapy and the first round of immunotherapy.
The experimental treatment is taking place at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Manchester Clinical Research Facility (CRF) at The Christie.
“Less than half of CUP patients actually meet the criteria to be put on the trial, and I was one of the lucky ones,” continues Lee, now 56.
“I wasn’t expecting the results to be so instant. I was on quite a lot of morphine before and didn’t need to touch it after the first session of chemo. I know that things can change at any time, but at the moment I’m feeling fine and want to make the most out of life."
Despite significant advances and new drug development, progress has been limited in CUP due to a lack of research and funding. Researchers at The Christie are trying to change this. The specialist cancer centre is one of the top global recruiters for the CUPISCO study.
In the hopes of raising money for The Christie, Lee has taken on the challenge of running the Manchester Half Marathon this weekend. Inspired by his daughter Aleisha who first decided to enter the race to support The Christie Hospital, the dad-of-three and husband said he would join her.
Lee says feels 'fit and healthy' and is aiming to raise £3,000 for the cause - and has even inspired his doctors. Dr Natalie Cook, Consultant Medical Oncologist at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and Chief Investigator for the trial said: “Lee has responded well to the trial and it’s brilliant that he’s well enough to take on the half marathon.
"Not only is he raising money for The Christie charity, which does vital work for patients and their families, but he’s also raising awareness of a relatively unknown type of cancer which needs more research and funding. He’s an inspirational man and I wish him and his daughter all the best for the day itself.”
You can sponsor Lee at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Lee-Young6 .
The Manchester Half Marathon takes place on Sunday, 9 October 2022. To find out more about other sponsored events The Christie charity has planned, visit www.christies.org/events .
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