A mum-of-two got news she "never expected" after suddenly losing her hearing.
Retired nurse Trish Shannon, from Huyton, was shocked when doctors found a tumour in her throat, which was interfering with her hearing. She'd previously had cancer on her tonsil in 2004, but after surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and five years of check-ups with no signs of cancer returning, she was given the all clear.
Nearly 20 years later, in 2021, Trish had it again - this time an oropharyngeal cancer, which is more common in men and is mostly linked to the human papillomavirus (HPV). Trish was just two years into retirement after a 40-year career working with kids and as a community nurse in Widnes when she was diagnosed. The 62-year-old said: "I never expected it to have cancer again. It was a huge shock."
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Her prior treatments meant she couldn't have standard therapies to tackle this new cancer. Trish said: "My options were pretty limited, and the outlook did not look very good."
The tumour kept growing slowly after immunotherapy, which boosts the body's immune system to help fight the cancer. In an effort to save her life, Trish was offered an experimental drug designed for patients with hard-to-treat tumours as part of a clinical trial at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre.
She's one of the first people in the UK to join the ModiFY research trial, which is testing an experimental cancer drug, Modi-1, in humans for the first time. Clatterbridge is the main site for the clinic trial, with the hospital's director of clinical research, Professor Christian Ottensmeier, acting as the trial's lead investigator.
Trish described it as a "no-brainer" to join the trial of this drug created by pharmaceutical company Scancell Holdings. She said: "I decided to jump right in, and I'm really pleased I did."
Her tumour is now half the size it was when Trish started taking the vaccine in September last year. Trish, who has a new grandson, George and another on the way, said: "The progress has been amazing.
"To have this kind of effect over such a short space of time gives you a lot of hope - and hope that this treatment can be there and be even better for people in the future.
"Although I was a nurse, I was community-based so did not get involved with clinical trials. So the whole process has been new to me. But everything was explained so thoroughly and I understood what was going to happen to me.
"I feel absolutely brilliant – it is the easiest treatment I've ever had. There have been no real side-effects. And this is one of the remarkable things, that it has been a total breeze compared to other cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
"When I was a paediatric nurse, I saw the effects that chemotherapy had on children. To think that this new treatment could become standard is really amazing.
“I don't think I'd been here now if I was not on this clinical trial - I've felt like all the planets aligned for me. The Clatterbridge team have been so supportive. They never make you feel like you have been left alone."
Prof Ottensmeier said: "We are delighted that this treatment is working so well for Trish. It is very early days with this therapy and there is a long way to go before this can become a standard treatment for this cancer. But we are very hopeful that personalised therapies to combat cancer can become a reality in the patients we treat here at Clatterbridge."
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