The cough began in 2020 and would not go away. Susan Gasson thought it was just a tickle in her throat and did not suspect her lungs.
An X-ray found a mass, and she was later told she had lung cancer, her fourth cancer diagnosis in four decades.
The 75-year-old from Greenwich in south-east London, had already been treated for breast, cervical and thyroid cancer. When the lung cancer returned after surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, she joined a clinical trial and now takes a single tablet a day.
“I feel lucky to still be here,” she said. “I get to watch my grandchildren grow up.”
Most of her treatment has been at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. The hospital said that before the trial there was no targeted therapy for lung cancer patients with a HER2 gene mutation, as Susan has, so they relied on repeated rounds of chemotherapy, which can have significant side effects. The mutation can drive cells to grow and divide excessively.
Since starting the trial, her tumour has shrunk and she has not needed any more chemotherapy, with her having a CT scan every six weeks.
“My cancer has shrunk and the side effects have been minimal, allowing me to have a much better quality of life,” she said.
Cancer ran in her family, affecting both her parents and grandparents. In the early 1980s, when she was in her early 30s and living in Hertfordshire, Susan found a pea-sized lump in her right breast.
