Salisbury leukaemia survivor welcomes new treatment research
Cllr Charles McGrath has revealed he's in remission from his illness
A City Councillor in Salisbury has revealed he's in remission from acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) following 18 months of treatment.
Charles McGrath, who represents Milford Ward, was first diagnosed with the disease in 2022, but is now 'feeling really good' after four rounds of chemotherapy treatment.
He described the treatment as 'very intensive', which resulted in him spending around 140 days in hospital between September 2022 and September 2023.
Mr McGrath's only contact with the hospital now is for a venesection, where a pint of blood is drained to remove the increased iron levels caused by blood transfusions during treatment.
He's thanked the staff at Salisbury District Hospital for their 'excellent' care, he said: "Everyone from the haematologists to the nurses on the ward to the healthcare assist's have just been second to none, you really couldn't fault them at all."
Mr McGrath remained in his roles as Councillor with both Salisbury City Council and Wiltshire Council, as well as continuing his day job.
He thanked all the organisations for their support during his treatment and recovery.
New, less intense treatment being researched
AML is the most common form of the disease and scientists are now aiming to improve the treatments available for it.
Currently, the five-year survival rate for AML is below 14%. However that could be down to the fact that the majority of people diagnosed with the disease are over 65, meaning their bodies simply cannot take the intensity of the chemotherapy.
But Professor Terry Rabbitts, Professor of Molecular Immunology at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, is exploring a new approach to targeting AML cancer cells to minimise the impact of treatment.
Mr McGrath has welcomed the research, saying: "A treatment like this, if it is less intense, will hopefully allow a lot more people of all ages, particularly more elderly people to have a cure, or at least be put in remission."
He told Greatest Hits Radio that the chemotherapy treatment he received is more or less the same as when it was first invented. He said it's very heavy duty.
"It's a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut because you essentially the chemo wipes out all the blood cells in your bone marrow. It wipes everything out.
"It wipes out your red blood cells, all of your white blood cells, or most of them, and your platelets as well, which can cause all sorts of complications," Mr McGrath said.
Professor Rabbits says the new technology allows antibodies to be deployed inside cells, with the aim of binding them with the fusion proteins incised cancer cells to destroy them.
It's hoped this will result in fewer side effects and have benefits for other blood cancers and solid tumours.
Better treatment, more survivors
Leukaemia UK are funding the research and their Policy and Public Affair's Officer, Lewis Miller, says they hope it makes treatment's easier to cope with.
"We hope that this research will bring about more targeted therapies, which will target the leukaemia cells more directly.
"Hopefully this will bring down the side effects and make leukaemia treatments less gruelling for those affected by leukaemia and, that in turn, this will not only improve the survival rates of the disease, but also improve the quality of life for those who have to live with it as well."
Mr Miller added that there's an estimated 4,900 people living with AML in the UK, meaning more effective and kinder treatments will go a long way in helping people with the disease.