Cancer patient hopes to live long enough to see grandchild thanks to new drug

A cancer patient who has beaten the odds to survive two chemotherapy treatments will be the first in the area to trial a new drug that could give him the gift of extra time.

Mr Trevor Frecknall, 72, of North Muskham, has terminal bowel cancer. He was told on Tuesday that he would be given the drug Gemcitabine on a trial basis.

The drug is usually used to treat cancers of the bladder, pancreas, ovary and breast, and non-small cell lung cancer.

Mr Frecknall, an historian, author and retired journalist, who is being treated at King’s Mill Hospital, Sutton-in-Ashfield, was not expected to live past the middle of the summer.

He is hoping to stay alive long enough for the birth of his first grandchild in mid-October.

Mr Frecknall said: “This is the gift of extra time. I desperately want to see that grandchild of mine and this is the only hope I have got of making that wish come true.

“I know the chances are still very slim but after the year I have had I think I deserve just that little bit of good luck — and I am determined to try and make use of it.”

'I hope I will be a trailblazer for this treatment'

Mr Frecknall said his treatment was potentially groundbreaking because no one with small bowel cancer had lived as long as him and gone through two chemotherapy treatments.

The chemotherapy has now stopped working.

“This third chemotherapy regime means basically I am on borrowed time, but I am also going to help medical authorities in future research how better to treat this virulent form of cancer,” he said.

“I hope I will be a trailblazer for this treatment and that it leads to better treatment for future patients in this area and throughout the country.”

Mr Frecknall has used his case to push for better services at Newark Hospital for cancer patients in the area.

He had to drive hundreds of miles each month for his previous rounds of chemotherapy because they were not available at Newark. He was seen by 20 clinicians at King’s Mill before he was diagnosed with bowel cancer.

The MP for Newark, Mr Robert Jenrick, has lodged a complaint with the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman on Mr Frecknall’s behalf and is using his case to push for better oncology services at Newark Hospital.

'This is uncharted territory'

Mr Frecknall said the first nine of his 16 cycles of chemotherapy had been effective in keeping the tumour at bay.

“The second type of chemotherapy was keeping some of the tumours in check but two have grown in my liver so my oncologist has decided to try a third one,” he said.

“This is uncharted territory because no one has survived two chemotherapy regimes and tried a third one.”

Mr Frecknall said he felt lucky that he was still alive and was overwhelmed by the support he had received.

“The team at King’s Mill have never seen a case like this before so I am very much a guinea pig,” he said.

“I am shocked to think that statistically speaking I am living on borrowed time.”

Mr Frecknall said Gemcitabine was not used on bowel cancer but his oncologist had decided to use it in the hope that it would slow the growth of his tumours.

“The target now is to keep me alive until mid-October so I can see the birth of my first grandchild, and if I get that far, then why not Christmas?

“But I am not looking too far ahead.”

'It is a dreadful struggle'

Mr Frecknall is due to have a dose every week for seven weeks and will then have a scan to see how effective it has been.

“This all means two trips to King’s Mill a week again which, for somebody whose basic illness is seasickness of the stomach, is not pleasant,” he said.

“It is a dreadful struggle and I honestly don’t know how I am going to cope because it was hard enough in the first chemotherapy regime to be having it once a fortnight.

“If they can help people in my situation in the future that will be a consolation to me.

“The bigger consolation will be if Robert Jenrick can use the results of the formal complaint, which he has put in for me to the NHS Ombudsman, to get Sherwood Forest Hospitals to use technology rather than guesswork in cases like mine.”