Stephen Cossins was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and at its worst he lost weight and felt extremely tired and lethargic. It began to spread aggressively in 2019, three years after the diagnosis, but is now cancer free, saying that is thanks to an experimental therapy he underwent.
"My wife and children are all delighted. I don’t think any of us believed this day would come. It’s wonderful but I’m so relieved it’s over. CLL is a rare type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow and he thought that it meant a death sentence for him after learning he had it, before it quickly began spreading throughout his body.
He said: "Initially I didn’t think that taking part in the trial was for me. I thought that I would prefer to have chemotherapy because it’s the standard treatment. I thought ‘do I really want to be a guinea pig for new drugs?’ Stephen, from Amersham in Buckinghamshire, recalled the shock of his diagnosis, he said: “My children were distraught when I told them and my wife was hit harder by the news that I was. She was devastated.”
NIHR chief executive and chief scientific adviser to the Department of Health, Professor Lucy Chappell, said: “The NIHR funds and supports research that aims to make a difference to patients across the country – and even further afield.