Latest Treatment

I finished a twelve-month course of a drug called Lenalidomide in March 2023. If the name is a bit familiar that’s because it’s a re-purposed version of the notorious Thalidomide, a morning sickness drug used briefly around 1960 that caused some terrible birth defects. I had to sign an undertaking saying I wouldn’t get anyone pregnant while taking it. My adult sons thought that was hilarious.

It's a different approach to normal chemotherapy and fortunately I was just able to keep working throughout. When I was first diagnosed it was only used as a treatment for myeloma, not lymphoma. It’s incredibly encouraging that new treatments are being developed and introduced. For me it’s a huge cause for optimism. If I can just stay alive long enough for each new treatment to come along then I might be around for much longer than I ever thought possible.

Unfortunately I relapsed again in the summer of 2024. My consultant here said I could have the last standard chemo option available to me, Bendamustine, or I could go to the Christie in Manchester to discuss the possibility of a drug trial either for Bispecifics or CAR-T. Following those conversations I joined the REFRACT study in November 2024, a 50:50 randomised trial of the Bispecific drug Epcoritamab versus 'standard of care". I was very, very fortunate to randomise to Epcoritamab, which is the treatment I'm having now.