Sarah Scanlan works as a senior oncology dietitian at The Christie hospital. Following 2 seizures in 2022, she had an MRI scan in June 2023. Just a day later, Sarah received the devastating news that she had a brain tumour.
"I was in shock at first," said Sarah. "And even though it was thought to be a low-grade tumour, I still felt like I had a ticking time bomb in my head whilst waiting for my treatment plan. They said I would need a craniotomy (surgery to the skull) to remove as much of the tumour as possible. The surgery was done under local anaesthetic at Salford Royal whilst I was awake."
Most of the tumour was removed. It was shown to be an oligodendroglioma a rare type of brain tumour, and Sarah was referred to The Christie for follow-up radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
"Initially, it was odd coming in as a patient rather than a staff member," said Sarah. However, my departmental family and my oncology team have been really supportive, and I feel very fortunate to have my treatment here."
Sarah’s oncologist spoke to her about the potential of her joining the APPROACH clinical trial in the proton beam therapy centre at The Christie. The proton beam therapy research room in this centre has been made possible with help from charitable donations.
The standard radiotherapy treatment for Sarah’s type of brain tumour is traditional photon radiotherapy. On the APPROACH trial, researchers are looking to see if proton beam therapy could cause fewer long-term side effects for oligodendroglioma patients than photon radiotherapy.
"Since working at The Christie, I am very aware of the importance of clinical trials. They are vital as they help inform whether new treatments are more effective than current treatments, or if the new treatment has fewer side effects."
