Powering Through
- Last October, 56-year-old dad Lee Young thought he pulled a muscle while playing golf; it wound up being an 8.5 cm tumor near his kidney. Unfortunately, doctors have yet to determine where the primary cancer is coming from.
- Thankfully, the garage owner from Manchester, England was enrolled in a clinical trial for patients in his situation, and he is thankful to have met all the criteria. One year later, he is feeling healthy despite the advanced stage cancer diagnosis.
- According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, multiple studies have indicated that learning to live with gratitude can lead to more happiness and less stress. One way to exercise gratitude is to take time to think about things you appreciate everyday, and some people find it helpful to write down those things in a journal.
Upon hearing the news last October, the garage owner from Greater Manchester, England, said his “world collapsed around him.”
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Hope from a Clinical Trial
Young was referred for treatment at The Christie, a world-renowned hospital in Manchester.
“I was scared to death and quite nervous, but the nurses at The Christie made me feel so welcome,” he said of the facility’s exceptional care. “In March, a clinical trial became available and it’s quite rare to be able to get on a clinical trial, but I thought if it doesn’t help me, it’ll help someone in the future.”
When Should I Consider Clinical Trials?
Now that Young has had time to let his diagnosis digest, he has changed his overall outlook on his disease. The fact that his rare case may help others in the future provides a comfort for him.
“If we don’t have these trials, we wouldn’t be where we are today,” the survivor said. “And if mine is an unusual cancer today, maybe one day it will be a curable cancer thanks to this process.”
“Now I feel like there’s no point in being sad over something you can’t control,” he added.
Young was enrolled in a phase II trial called CUPISCO. Remarkably, his tumor shrunk by over half after just one round of immunotherapy and three chemotherapy treatments.
"Less than half of CUP patients actually meet the criteria to be put on the trial, and I was one of the lucky ones,” Young shared of the experimental treatment.
Young’s current status with his cancer is unclear, but he reported feeling health enough to do a half marathon on October 9 with his daughter to help raise fund for The Christie hospital. His daughter felt inspired to give back thanks to her father’s fortunate opportunity through the hospital, and Lee decided to join her.
Facing the Unknown with a Positive Outlook
Gratitude: what is it and why does it matter? You've probably heard the word thrown around here and there when discussing complex concepts. But living with gratitude is quite simple in its meaning. It means being thankful for what you have and showing appreciation in your day to day life and it can be really helpful for those struggling with mental hardships.
Dr. Zuri Murrell, a colorectal cancer surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, told SurvivorNet that his patients who live with gratitude tend to handle treatment better because this attitude is one way to stay mentally healthy.
How Can Gratitude Lead to a Healthier Mindset?
One reason this phenomenon is often reported anecdotally could be due to the reduction in stress level. Stress and anxiety can lead to physical issues, and practicing gratitude can help get both under control.
"The patients who do well with cancer, they live life with that kind of gratitude, but in terms of everything," Dr. Murrell explained. "They're grateful, not for cancer, but they're grateful for an opportunity to know that life is finite."
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, multiple studies have indicated that learning to live with gratitude can lead to more happiness and less stress. One way to exercise gratitude is to take time to think about things you appreciate everyday, and some people find it helpful to write down those things in a journal.
Stress and Cancer
Many people wonder if their stressful lifestyle led to their cancer diagnosis. Although stress can contribute to a number of health problems, the evidence that it can cause cancer is weak.
Dr. Heather Yeo, a colorectal surgeon and surgical oncologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell, says stress can decrease your body's ability to fight certain cancers.
What's more, Dr. Yeo says there are some studies which show stress could worsen healing and recovery from surgery as well as affect the risk of recurrence. "We know that when your immune system is down when there's an excess of stress hormones going on," explains Dr Yeo, "your body has a hard time recovering and cancer takes advantage of that."
What is Cancer of the Unknown Primary (CUP)?
Cancer is typically defined by where it starts and not where it spreads, according to MD Anderson Cancer Center, who goes on to define this rare cancer classification.
“Cancer of the unknown primary is a rare group of metastatic cancers that are found after they've spread, but the location of the original tumor isn't clear,” the site notes.
“These secondary tumors are most commonly found in the lungs, liver, lymph nodes and the bones. They can also be found in the lining of the bowel, which is called the peritoneum.
Since cancer has been determined to start from just a few cells that keep growing and spreading, one idea is that certain primary lesions are too small to detect them. Another theory thus far is that perhaps the body’s immune system has eradicated the primary tumor on its own.
A cancer diagnosis is extremely tough to go through, but especially for patients how don’t quite know what they’re dealing with.
Hopefully as research progresses further, with the help of people like Lee Young and these clinical trials, doctors can have more definitive answers in the near future. The key is that Lee Young caught his cancer, and is showing favorable results thus far. It’s crucial to keep fighting and believe in the power of medicine mixed with the power of your mindthat you can get through this!
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