Miraculous Recovery Of A Cancer Patient's

Suffering from a rare and aggressive form of cancer, Ian Brooks was given only weeks to live.

With around 70 tumours throughout his body, doctors admitted they had almost run out of treatment options.

But incredibly Mr Brooks, 47, is now in ‘complete remission’ after he became the first person outside the US to receive a new tumour-busting drug.

These pictures show how far the Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma had spread, with almost every area of his body showing clusters of tumours.

But the second scan taken after only a few weeks on the US drug Brentuximab Vedotin shows an amazing improvement. 

All the tumours have been eradicated. The only dark spots visible on the scan show the normal functioning of his kidneys and bladder.

The clinical trial at The Christie Hospital in Manchester has been so successful that the drug has been made routinely available to other sufferers. 

Now NHS patients with the same rare form of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma can get the drug through the Cancer Drugs Fund.

Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is a cancer which involves the lymph nodes, with the NHS treating around 1,500 new cases a year. Mr Brooks, an engine repair technician from Bolton, said: ‘I don’t think I would be here today without  that drug. 

‘My specialist was so excited when he saw the results that he showed me them straight away. I had 60 or 70 tumours and they had gone.’

He had a rare form of Non-Hodgkin’s called Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma. Brentuximab Vedotin targets this strain of the disease and can put patients into ‘complete remission’ when there would otherwise be few treatment options available.