Sheila Cartwright, one of the first CCLG members and retired paediatric radiation oncologist, reflects on her career, and explains how LinkedIn allows her to keep up with developments in childhood cancer and reconnect with former patients.
I trained as a doctor at University College Hospital London, where I commenced my studies in 1963. At University College Hospital the radiotherapists had marvellous, compassionate careers and inspired me. I had an elective period at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) for six weeks and then spent six weeks in my hometown Leeds at Cookridge Hospital, the treatment centre for radiotherapy in Yorkshire. After qualifying as a doctor and working in a couple of hospitals, I returned to Leeds in 1971.
I made swift progress up the medical ladder, passing the Fellow of the Royal College of Radiologists (FRCR) exam and being appointed as a consultant radiotherapist in 1974, with responsibilities for paediatric oncology and breast cancer. None of us knew how to treat children and my consultant colleagues quickly passed their patients to me. Work needed to be done to change this, to gather information and better knowledge of children’s cancers.
Progress
Some colleagues and I soon formed a multi-disciplinary team - the Yorkshire Paediatric Oncology Team. We quickly linked up with the Christie Hospital in Manchester, then Newcastle, Liverpool, and Birmingham. The next step was to reach out to GOSH and The Royal Marsden, to form the United Kingdom Children’s Cancer Study Group (UKCCSG) - the forerunner to today’s CCLG. Soon, national guidelines for ependymoma, Ewing’s sarcoma and neuroblastoma were developed. We were aware of SIOP, the international children’s cancer group, becoming members, and together with a colleague I travelled to many international meetings.
I became concerned with how chemotherapy drugs were being prepared on the wards and so promoted their labelling and the use of a laminar flow cabinet to store them. Bone marrow transplantation for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) became a possibility, with total body irradiation (TBI) a challenge for the physics team and myself. It was necessary to build a unit for the children receiving radiotherapy and, thanks to the Yorkshire Post and generosity of Yorkshire people, the ward sister and I raised considerable funds to build the unit. We were made Leeds Citizens of the Year in 1977, and I had the honour of showing Princess Diana around the unit.
Now in my 70s, I’m updated with modern precision guided radiotherapy and take an interest in immunotherapy and webinars, thanks to LinkedIn. I’m in contact with over 200 radiation oncologists worldwide and work to promote international protocols for solid tumour patients.
Also through LinkedIn, I’ve been contacted by surviving childhood cancer patients. Recently I wished a Wilms’ tumour patient greetings on his 50th Birthday, which was so gratifying.
I’m in awe of today’s brilliant oncologists, their accomplishments and complex treatment protocols. Cancer medicine is undergoing a revolution, and now more than four out of five children with cancer survive. I’m so fortunate to be an honorary member of CCLG and see all its wonderful work, including Contact magazine.
From Contact magazine issue 93 - December 2021
