Woman grateful for groundbreaking cancer treatment

A Surrey woman says she feels "incredibly blessed and lucky" to have taken part in a clinical trial for a new cervical cancer treatment which will become available on the NHS.

The immunotherapy treatment, described as "taking the handbrake off" the body's immune system, is to be offered as an option for some patients receiving cervical cancer treatment from Thursday.

Louise Broadbelt, 55, was one of the first people to be offered the treatment when she took part in a clinical trial after being diagnosed with Stage 3 cervical cancer at 55.

She said: "Nothing can prepare you for being diagnosed with cancer."

Broadbelt added: "All you want to hear is you will get the best possible treatment and have hope.

"I'm very grateful that I was offered the chance to go on the pembrolizumab clinical trial in 2021. I feel incredibly blessed and lucky that I was offered to participate in the trial and that I am still here today."

The pembrolizumab treatment, which is administered either as an injection or as an infusion, was approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) on Thursday.

It comes after research also showed that children vaccinated at 12 or 13 years old with the HPV vaccine have close to zero risk of dying from cervical cancer before the age of 30.

Two years after starting the treatment, 68% of were still living without their cancer progressing compared to 57% of people who received just chemoradiotherapy, an NHS spokesperson said.

About 550 people will be eligible for the treatment over the next two years, the NHS estimates.

Around 3,300 people are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, according to Cancer Research UK.

Lyndsey Ambler, from the charity, said: "Adding immunotherapy to standard cancer treatment could improve people's chances of survival, so it's encouraging that pembrolizumab is being made available for some people with locally advanced cervical cancer through the Cancer Drugs Fund.

"This decision may also allow some patients to access the drug earlier in their treatment than previously."

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