Out of darkness came hope, or so explained Justin Stebbing, Professor of Oncology, Imperial college, London at the Pink Ribbon conference on 17th September.
Gerard Dugdill organized the Pink Ribbon’s 3rd breast cancer forum, in association with the Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole Street, London W1G and Frost Magazine was lucky enough to be there on the morning of the Patients’ Day.
A series of speakers spoke to an audience of patients and their relatives about many things, not quite sea and ships and sailing wax, cabbages and kings, but surgery, and nursing support. Frost’s own Dr Kathleen Thompson talked about the things she had learned during her journey through cancer, and had excellent ideas for navigating the system. It is a journey so amusingly but poignantly described in her award winning book From Both Ends of the Stethoscope. A book which is selling strongly internationally.
Then it was the turn of a plastic surgeon, and finally Justin Stebbing who kicked off his talk about what were the beginnings of cancer treatment, and where it appeared to be going now, as research speeds at a gallop into the future. He explained that immunotherapy which is being developed looks as though it could be the way to tackle cancer in the future. As he said, this is a mile ahead, but research is already a few yards into the journey.
But back to mustard gas. Justin told us how Dr Stewart Francis Alexander made the link from mustard gas to cancer treatment. He noticed that many of those caught in a mustard gas attack had, after several days, a surprisingly low number of immune cells in their blood – cells that, if mutated, can go on to develop into leukaemia and lymphoma.
Alexander hypothesised that if mustard gas could destroy normal white blood cells, it seemed likely that it could also destroy cancerous ones – thence the start of chemotherapy.
This was a hugely valuable day, one ultimately which gave hope that we are on the way in some years hence to non invasive treatment, and perhaps protection.
From Both Ends of the Stethoscope: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Both-Ends-Stethoscope-Getting-cancer-ebook/dp/B01A7DM42Q