Man cancer-free after drug trial having been given just 12 months to live
Published
| Last updated
Featured Image Credit: @thechristienhs/ Twitter
A man who was given just 12 months to live is now cancer-free after taking part in a successful drug trial.
Robert Glynn said he 'jumped at the chance' to join the drug trial and that being told his cancer had gone was 'overwhelming', as per the BBC.
Glynn, from Worsley, Salford, was diagnosed with a form of bile duct cancer in 2020 after going to his GP with severe shoulder pain.
Doctors were initially unsure as to what was causing the shoulder pain, so Glynn underwent rigorous tests to get to the root of the problem.
It was discovered that he had actually been living with cancer for two years without him knowing, and it was only found by chance after he got an infection in his gallbladder.
The day before his 49th birthday in August 2020, he was informed that he had intrahepatic bile duct cancer, and it was at an advanced stage.
Therefore, doctors gave him the devastating news that he had just a year to live.
Glynn was referred to The Christie in Manchester - a cancer treatment centre where he was offered the chance to take part in a trial of an experimental immunotherapy drug.
The drug, alongside traditional chemotherapy, led to a tumour in Glynn's liver shrinking from 12cm to 2.6cm.
It also shrank another tumour in his adrenal gland from 7cm to 4.1cm, which allowed him to undergo surgery in April this year.
Remarkably, surgeons found only dead tissues during the operation, meaning he was cancer-free.
Since then, Glynn has not received any further treatment, with his three-monthly scans also showing he is free of the disease.
Speaking on why he decided to take part in the experimental trial, Glynn told the BBC: "You do anything you can to extend your life.
"I feel very lucky as I had the cancer for two years and had no idea, so getting the all-clear was overwhelming.
"I wouldn't be here today without the trial."
The successful trial was run by The Christie's Prof Juan Valle, who has said that Glynn's outcome could change how doctors treat patients like him in the future.
She said: "Robert has done very well on this combination due to his tumour having... a high number of genetic mutations.
"Most patients with this diagnosis do not have as many mutations in their cancer cells, so the treatment won't be as effective, but it does highlight the importance of personalised medicine."
