Image: Sue Vincent Credit: John Angerson
Before I was diagnosed I was extremely well. I worked for Birmingham City Council and headed up training and employment services for people with disabilities. I absolutely loved my job. I worked very long hours, I went to the gym two or three times a week and had a very hectic social life with some great friends. So life was very, very good.
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In July 2007 I went on holiday for the first time with Pete. We had a lovely time and photographs show me looking really well. So my diagnosis in September really was a bolt out of the blue.
The symptoms I had were easily dismissed as something like irritable bowel syndrome. I was bloated, I felt tired, I just felt generally unwell.
In the end I was badgered into going to the doctors by a couple of friends. As soon as the doctor examined me it was quite clear that she was concerned about something. She referred me to the hospital, and I was extremely lucky to be seen the following week.
"I thought, I can’t possibly have cancer"
I was with my family when I was told it was ovarian cancer. I think there was an element of shock at first. I remember thinking, ‘This is happening to somebody else. This is not happening to me. I can't possibly have cancer’. It was the look on Pete and my girls’ faces that really brought it home to me, this is serious.
I had surgery followed by six rounds of chemotherapy. I found chemotherapy really difficult. It totally changed my life. I lost my hair, which for me was a big thing because I lost my identity. I had a lot of pain and I felt very poorly the week after each chemotherapy session.
I was offered genetic testing because my mum had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 1968. After my diagnosis the doctors made a link, and we were invited to be tested. We were told we both had a BRCA2 mutation, which meant we were more likely to develop cancer.
I was confused and then afraid for my girls, Natalie and Naomi, and the rest of the family. I realised that if mum and I were BRCA2 then in every likelihood, there were other members of the family who were in the same position.
But attached to that fear there was a realisation that now we knew about it, maybe we could do something about it.
"A scan showed it was back in three places"
Then in February 2010 I had a routine appointment and blood tests showed that my CA125 level – a cancer marker – had risen slightly. It continued to rise month on month to July 2010. That was a very difficult time. It meant the cancer was back, but we didn't know where because it wasn't showing on CT scans. Then in July a scan finally showed that it was back in three places, and therefore it was inoperable.
It was a massive bombshell, and my prognosis was not good. At that stage I was probably looking at two to three years, if I was very lucky. I was scared, I’d only been married to Pete for just over 12 months. I didn’t want to leave him or my girls. When I first heard about the olaparib clinical trial I wasn’t sure about it because it meant stopping the natural remedies I was taking. But my consultant persisted, and I felt that I owed it to Pete and my girls to do everything I possibly could to live for as long as I could. If olaparib was going to give me a little bit of extra time, then I was going to take it.
"I was responding well to the trial"
I also thought that the trial could help other people in the future with an ovarian cancer diagnosis.
When you first go on a trial you don't know whether you're on the trial drug or the placebo. The study I was on meant I was having chemotherapy alongside olaparib. But when I looked up to see four or five people standing around the bottom of the hospital bed at the point that I took the trial tablets, I realised I must be taking olaparib.
It became clear quite quickly that I was responding well to the trial. A year later I thought I must soon be reaching the extra 12 – 18 months that I had hoped for, and that my cancer would be coming back – but it didn’t.
For the best part of maybe two to three years, each time I saw my consultant – which was every three months – I would have that feeling as I was driving to the hospital – it'll be today, because it's due back. I've had my extra time. But here I am, 14 years later.
Image: Sue Vincent and her husband Pete with their grandchildren Credit: John Angerson
"My grandchildren are my world"
Since I started taking olaparib, so many things have happened. Naomi got married in 2011 and later that year I was awarded an MBE for my work at Birmingham Council by Prince – now King – Charles.
In 2012 my first grandchildren arrived. Harli Jacob was born in May 2012 followed by Lily Alice in August. And then in 2014 we had Sam Joshua, and three months later we had Molly Rose. Then in 2021, Grace Edith was born. My grandchildren are my world, and we spend as much time with them as possible. Had it not been for olaparib I would never have met them.
Pete and I have travelled. We've had some wonderful holidays and so many experiences because I'm still here. Life is precious. We're enjoying it in every way we possibly can.
"I have some great hopes for the future"
My life today is just so hectic. I’m known as ‘nanny’s taxi’ and it's lovely to be in that position! We look after Grace one day a week and I do a school run with Sam one day a week. Saturday morning will see me standing on the touch line watching Harli play football.
We love being outside in our garden and we've got great friends, and we've got good social life. So all in all, life is pretty good.
I have some great hopes for the future. The biggest thing I want is to see my grandchildren grow up and go into their careers. I’d love to travel more with Pete. We've been married 15 years, so every moment of that is special.
"You can’t put into words the importance of research"
Without The Institute of Cancer Research, olaparib would never have come to fruition and I would not be where I am today. You can’t put into words the importance of that research.
My hope is that The Institute of Cancer Research will keep breaking new ground. PARP inhibitors like olaparib were such a major breakthrough, and I think that opened the door to many other areas that they're working on. One of my daughters tested positive for the BRCA2 mutation and has been diagnosed with cancer. There may come a day when she needs a clinical trial to help prolong her life. We need hope that new drugs will be available.
For anyone that's thinking of supporting the Institute of Cancer Research, my first words would be, please do. The work that they do is just so important. It's life changing, it's lifesaving.
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