“You need people to be part of cancer research so that things can improve” – Roxanne’s story
After being diagnosed with bowel cancer, Roxanne took part in the TRACC Part C trial and the MyRisk study at The Royal Marsden, contributing towards vital research.
“I was diagnosed with bowel cancer in November 2023, it was all quite sudden. A month after my diagnosis I had surgery which went really well.
“I thought that everything was okay until December, just before Christmas, when my oncology team told me the bowel cancer I had was stage 2, a T4 diagnosis. This meant, although all the cancer had been removed during surgery, it had just breached the bowel wall, so they still wanted to give me chemotherapy to ‘mop up’ anything remaining.
“I was feeling quite down about this as I knew the surgery had gone really well and really didn’t think I’d need to have chemotherapy.”
Facing her fears and joining the TRACC Part C trial
“I came to The Royal Marsden for my first appointment in January where I met Professor Cunningham. He does amazing work leading on cancer treatment and research, and he made me feel so at ease. I was told the plan would be to have four rounds of chemotherapy and I was also given the opportunity to join the TRACC Part C trial.”
The TRACC Part C trial evaluates the use of a blood test to guide chemotherapy treatment decisions after surgery in patients with stage 2 or 3 colorectal cancer.
I knew that joining this trial would help other people in the future
“I had never considered joining a clinical trial before and felt a bit nervous. The team at The Royal Marsden explained everything so well, though, and I did lots of research with my husband.
“To join the trial, I had to do DNA testing first because there were different pathways to the trial depending on your results. Unfortunately for me, my tests came back as positive so I went onto the part of the trial which involved having two types of chemotherapy treatment (infusion and tablets). When it came down to it, I knew that joining this trial would help other people in the future. You need people to be part of research so that things can improve.”
Starting the chemotherapy and the MyRisk trial
Roxanne began chemotherapy at the Oak Cancer Centre, which was funded by supporters of The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity: “What a lovely environment the Oak Cancer Centre is, especially when you’re in such a rubbish situation – to have this Centre makes such a difference.”
“Before I started the treatment, I was offered the opportunity to join another trial, the MyRisk study.” The MyRisk study researches better ways to treat nausea and vomiting, symptoms caused by the chemotherapy drugs.
...everything felt very efficient and easy being part of this research study
“I’m not a particularly sickly person but the thought of being sick or the thought of feeling nauseous makes me feel sick! I think it’s psychological. I’d already said yes to the TRACC trial so I said yes to the MyRisk study too. I was aware this meant taking another drug on top of my treatment, but anything I can do to help research.
“Sally-Anne from the MyRisk study team met me before my chemotherapy treatment each time and she always called me afterwards, about three to four days post infusion. I felt the study team were really in touch all the time – always at the right time – and everything felt very efficient and easy being part of this research study. “
“It was a nice feeling – you didn’t just feel like a number on the trial.”
“I felt nauseous every time I had treatment but never had any sickness – this is what the tablets worked well for, as it stopped me actually having the physical sickness.
“After my first chemotherapy infusion, I felt awful and had just about every side effect going. My team then decided to give me the chemotherapy at a slower rate in the hope it wouldn’t cause such adverse effects. This worked! I always felt like everyone listened to what I said, things were changed based on my feedback – you really feel like you’re important and people are taking care of you.
“Knowing that my involvement in the two trials I was on might help other patients with cancer in the future is a really nice feeling.”
How is Roxanne doing now?
“After my treatment had finished, my first lot of blood tests showed there were no signs of cancer in my body. However, after two months of being cancer free, sadly my tumour markers went up again and scans found three tumours in my liver. I’m back on chemotherapy and being looked after for a second time by the teams in Sutton.
“I want to fundraise for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity to help other people who are going through the same experience as me. If I can help others by fundraising, being part of research and sharing my story, then this is great.”
Help us support more world-leading research.
TRACC Part C is funded by the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) Programme, a Medical Research Council (MRC) and National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) partnership. The earlier TRACC Part B study was supported by The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. This demonstrated that patients with a negative circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) test following surgery are less likely to see their cancer return within two years, compared to those with positive results.
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