A mum who visited her doctor when her daughter heard a change in her voice was “floored” when she discovered she had an aggressive cancer she has a 50/50 chance of surviving.
Beverley Joyce, 60, arranged a trip to her GP when Kimberley said there was “something not quite right” about the sharpness in her voice.
She also started suffering from mouth ulcers which would not heal.
When she went to the hospital a biopsy confirmed she had stage four cancer which had spread from Beverley’s tongue to her throat and lymph nodes.
She told the Liverpool Echo: “I was floored when I was told it was cancer. I have been healthy all my life and I've never smoked.
“When they said it was head and neck cancer, I was really shocked."
She underwent surgery to cut it out and had part of her tongue removed Aintree Hospital, followed by 30 rounds of radiotherapy at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Liverpool.
Beverley was entered into a clinical research trial for a cancer therapy designed to help the immune system destroy cancer cells and other cells believed to help it grow.
It is believed to be better targeted and more extensive than alternative cancer treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
A modified virus is injected into the veins which activates white blood cells known as T-cells to attack the cancer cells, with this trained response continuing long after the virus has died off.
Beverley added: “When I was told about the trial, I thought it was amazing.
“They explained it all so simply. Why would you say no? I know it is a new treatment, but it's only helping my own immune system to have a better chance at fighting the cancer."
In September, before surgery, she became one of the first five people in the world given the therapy as part of the Mode of Action Transgene study.
Four are receiving the treatment at Clatterbridge under the care of Professor Christian Ottensmeier, the study's principal investigator.
He said: "We're not very good at making people with cancer better.
“The treatments are often pretty limited in their ability to kill all the cancer cells, and what you don't kill will eventually grow back.
“You really need to get to the point where you can get rid of all the cancer cells.
“You need a strategy that will allow you to target cancers that you can't see on a scan."
Despite the gloomy prognosis when Beverley was first diagnosed, she got to ring the bell amid cheers and applause from Kimberley and the Clatterbridge staff at the end of her treatment.
She still struggles with swallowing and is having speech therapy, but both Beverley and Kimberley feel "special" for having got the treatment she did.
Kimberley added: "They administered it, they answered every question, they were there the whole time.
“They were brilliant and so reassuring, I felt like I could go home, get a good rest and come back, and I knew my mom was okay, she was comfortable, she felt safe. It takes the worry off.
"She's taken part in something that potentially is going to change a lot of people's lives, and that's something to be proud of.
“They'll be writing about this, there'll be publications, there'll be so much research, and all her data is going to help that."
