Behind the scenes at The Christie
A couple of years ago my Uncle Gerald died of cancer, and the last time I saw him he was in his bed, physically reduced and in considerable pain. A couple of years before that, he'd been in good health, singing at my wedding.
I don't tell the story for sentiment's sake. While the process was sad, it was also matter-of-fact and grimly ordinary. Four in 10 of us are now expected to get cancer, and most people reading this will have lost someone to it. Strip away the mythology that cancer has acquired in our culture and you're left with a disease - or more accurately a wide set of diseases - that goes about the business of killing thousands of us every year, without prejudice.
Making these programmes for 5 live about 's clinical trials unit, where cancer patients volunteer to try out brand new drugs fresh from the laboratory, was never going to be the cheeriest project, but getting to know some of the patients involved proved to be a great privilege.
That's not because having cancer turned them automatically into philosophers or poets, as the myth would have us believe (though in the case of Kimberly Lewis, living with hodgkins lymphoma for eight and a half of her 36 years has done something akin to that). Most of the people I met were simply getting on with things as best they could, and just as that last meeting with my uncle was not filled with talk of the afterlife but instead allotments, most of the people wanted to talk about the ordinary things in their lives.
The difference of course is that these are people at extreme moments when the ordinary takes on a special force. Such things as love and hope aren't transformed into something different, but are profoundly magnified. Witnessing that, over and over, was deeply moving.
What's most remarkable about the clinical trials unit is the way it enmeshes personal stories so intrinsically with scientific progress of a dizzying order. A higher proportion of us may get cancer but thanks to the work done in places like this, patients are living longer with more personalised treatments and less toxic drugs. For the people I met, that meant enjoying weddings, birthdays and holidays which otherwise simply wouldn't have happened.
That progress is only accelerating, with greater understanding of the characteristics of cancer generating optimism even among those in the most stubborn areas, such as lung cancer and brain tumours. Making these programmes has confirmed that for me, if I do end up among the 40%, my faith will be pinned wholeheartedly on the hard science to see me through. If it doesn't, I'll know it isn't for the lack of effort on the parts of all those developing the drugs and all those brave enough to try them out for the first time.
Geoff Bird is the producer of the two-part 5 live documentary Cancer Trials - Behind The Scenes At The Christie. Click on the link to listen to both episodes.
Comment number 1.
At 23rd Aug 2011, Fedster wrote:Really intresting stuff!!!
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Comment number 2.
At 26th Aug 2011, Jackstumps wrote:This appears to be the only blog stream currently open. Lest we forget chaps, a blog is the opportunity for your listeners to comment as well as your contributors. Just thought I'd remind you.
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Comment number 3.
At 27th Aug 2011, Russell wrote:Cancer is a brutal disease and more needs to be done to combat this disease. I personally work on preventing it by working on myself and ridding my body of processed foods - Prevention is the key...
Russ, [Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]
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