A student who refused to believe doctors when they told him he was 'going to die' after discovering a ' football'-sized tumour in his stomach has now miraculously been given the all-clear.
Sam Cockram, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, then 21, sought help in March 2020 after suffering from bowel problems and feeling a hard lump in his stomach and lower back.
He was stunned to be diagnosed with stage four Burkitt Lymphoma, with doctors giving him a grim prognosis.
The now 23-year-old underwent gruelling radiotherapy for three months but was told by doctors in June the same year that the treatment hadn't worked and the cancer was incurable.
But Sam along with his girlfriend Ella Judd, 22, and mum Joy, 61, refused to accept this and took it upon themselves to research treatments and clinical trials.
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While receiving 'end-of-life' care from a hospice, Sam started a new course of medication and radiotherapy to slow the rapidly-growing cancer down - and left doctors stunned after he reacted so well to the treatment.
Two years after his original diagnosis, Sam is celebrating being given the news that he's completely cancer-free.
He's now told how the ordeal changed his perspective on life and he opted to leave university to concentrate on his love of music instead.
Sam said: "When I was told I was going to die, I wasn't expecting that. My girlfriend said 'I don't know how but we're not going to let this happen'.
"I can't really put into words how it felt. I couldn't get my head around it because I still hadn't got my head around the first diagnosis.
"After the first diagnosis, I just thought, of course, it would work out and I'd be fine in a few months. I thought I'd be back at university at the start of term. I didn't think into it too much.
"It was hard telling my girlfriend and family but nobody believed it would happen. We all said we weren't going to let it happen and my mum didn't accept it. She's quite religious and she kept praying for me.
"So when I got the all-clear, I couldn't believe it. I still don't believe it. It's an idea that I've got used to over the last year and it's still in my head. I can't really get used to it.
"My mum couldn't believe it when I got the all-clear, she was in tears. I called my girlfriend at work and she was in shock, she messaged her mum who was crying. It was surreal.
"My mum and girlfriend's support were instrumental in me getting better. They believed I was going to be fine.
"I didn't let myself get to that point where I was talking about dying with anyone. I saw a psychologist when I found out that the treatment hadn't worked and it was looking quite bleak.
"They said 'some people respond differently, some people start making plans for after they're gone' and I remember thinking 'no, I'm not doing it. I'm not thinking about that'."
After his initial diagnosis, the uni student expected to undergo treatment for a couple of months and return to university in September to carry on his theology course.
But his tumour was growing rapidly and pressing against his kidneys.
Sam said: "I was quite hopeful. I didn't really think about any chance of it not being cured. It was scary but I was mostly just annoyed that it was something that wasn't going to be easy.
"I was thinking that I didn't want to be in hospital and I didn't want there to be a big interruption. I was at university and I was meant to be having the time of my life."
In June 2020, Sam received the news that the tumour had grown but he never gave up hope, volunteering for clinical trials and researching new treatments.
Sam said: "My tumour was like a football. It went away then I felt it come back. The doctors said the treatment wasn't working and it wasn't likely anything else would work but we'd try another treatment.
"I just thought at least there's another treatment. It worked for a while but I could feel it coming back.
"I would go to bed and in the morning I could see that it was bigger, that's how fast it was growing. Then they said 'you're going to die'. I wasn't expecting that."
He was discharged from the hospital where he received care from the local hospice team while taking a drug used to slow cancer down and undergoing more radiotherapy.
Sam was unexpectedly responding well to the treatment so doctors re-diagnosed his condition as Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma, a cancer that attacks the body's immune system.
There are 70 types of lymphoma, and each type refers to a specific type of lymphocyte - blood cell - that malfunctions.
In diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, infection-fighting cells called B-cells are affected.
It is the same condition that Blink-182 rocker Mark Hoppus revealed in June last year that he had been diagnosed with - before announcing in September that months of chemo had wiped out the cancer.
Sam was offered Car T therapy which completely wiped out the cancer within six months but required him to be put into an induced coma for two days.
The innovative new treatment involves reprogramming the patient's own immune system cells that are then used to target their cancer.
He said: "I knew there was new research all the time. I told the doctors I'd do any clinical trials that are happening. I was desperate.
"They gave me some tablets that are used for a different kind of lymphoma and there's a bit of evidence that they slow things down but they aren't a treatment.
"I was taking those and having radiotherapy for a month and I was getting more and more well. They decided it must be a different kind of cancer and offered me a pretty amazing treatment.
"It's a one-off IV thing where they take blood cells and genetically modify them. I had a 28-day scan and it showed a massive improvement tean a three-month scan then a six-month scan in December, which was the all-clear."
Sam has decided not to go back to university but instead concentrate on music which he became passionate about while in hospital.
Sam said: "The experience has changed my whole perspective. I didn't expect to be here now.
"I want to tell people in my situation to keep hoping that things will work out but I know for a lot of people that isn't always the case.
"Don't stop looking for new treatments and don't be afraid to ask for a second opinion. Try anything that might help."
