Dr Catherine Pointer was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2006, aged 14. She tells us how her experiences inspired her to become a cancer researcher, working alongside one of the doctors who treated her.
It was on a family holiday in 2006 when I suddenly became ill. I couldn’t stand without fainting and lost a huge amount of weight. When we got home, a domino effect of tests and being transferred to different hospital departments began. After several weeks of testing, I was moved to Piam Brown Ward at Southampton General Hospital, and was eventually diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).
In the first weeks of treatment, my consultant noticed my reaction was different to that of other teenagers. While others asked, “Why me?”, I was asking, “How me?”. How does a healthy 14-year-old with no family history of cancer, get leukaemia? I would sit with my doctors and they would answer my questions as best they could, but there would always come a point in the conversation where the answer would be “no one knows, that’s what research is trying to find out”. It was in these conversations with doctors and scientists that I realised I could become a scientist myself. But as I realised this, my education was falling by the wayside, and I missed Year 10.
After four cycles of chemotherapy, I went into remission and returned to school. With the help of some awesome teachers, I managed to scrape decent grades in my GCSEs, which was enough to be accepted onto science courses for my A-levels. However, the leukaemia suddenly returned after my first year of A-levels and I had to take a full academic year out to have a bone marrow transplant.
None of my family were a match for me, but when a donor was found I was warned that the transplant would be the hardest treatment yet. Indeed, it was. It was the only time in all my treatments that I ever contemplated giving up. It seems horrifying to say that 12 years on, knowing how well things have turned out now. But at the time I’d been so unwell for so long that it was hard to imagine it would ever end. One of the hardest parts of cancer treatment is just how utterly relentless it is, and it’s something few understand unless they’ve experienced it themselves. It wears the whole family down. But we tried to focus on one day at a time and clung on to the hope that I’d eventually start to improve.
Looking to the future.
When I returned to college, I knew I wanted to study biomedical science at university and even cited my illness as work experience in applications. Though my immediate family were very supportive, sadly many people were of the view that I shouldn’t bother and should simply “just go and get a job”. School and exams are difficult enough at the best of times.
When cancer strikes, it seems logical to many people that you should cut out anything else which is causing you stress. It’s a major unspoken challenge young cancer patients face, but I found this attitude completely unjust. Having just fought for my life, why should I now limit myself for the rest of it? Cancer presented itself to me as a problem and I wanted to do something about it. And, while I often cursed the stress, it all became worth it the day I finished my PhD.
I did think carefully about whether I wanted to work in cancer research. Did I really want my career to be all about a disease which had already dominated so much of my life? But during my degree I did work experience in the lab of a consultant who had looked after me, and cancer became the subject which interested me the most. After completing my degree, I did my PhD at Southampton, back in the hospital which I'd once called home.
My research interests.
Since finishing my PhD in 2019, I’ve stayed at Southampton Hospital, working for the Cancer Research UK Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre, where I am a lead scientist and research fellow for cancer clinical trials. The best thing about my job is that I’m quite literally improving cancer medicine on a regular basis. The treatments I had 12 years ago are much improved now. All of our trials are immunological, using and educating a patient’s own immune system to diagnose and treat their own cancer. My favourite trial at the moment is of a blood test which can diagnose lung cancer up to two years earlier than the current method of a CT scan.
Sharing my experiences with cancer has been important to me since finishing my PhD. I’ve always wanted to reach out to other people, and show others that even cancer can open new doors. Previously, I didn’t personally know anyone else in research who’d also had the disease as a child. But recently we had a new member join our team for a placement year as part of her degree, who was also treated for leukaemia on Piam Brown and now wants to work in research as well.
It’s an absolute privilege to be in the position I am in today, supporting others in establishing a career, as well as improving cancer medicine. I’m very grateful to have made the most of the cards I was dealt, and I hope others can see that they can do the same.
"Sharing my experiences with cancer has been important to me since finishing my PhD. I’ve always wanted to reach out to other people, and show others that even cancer can open new doors."
From Contact magazine issue 94 - Spring 2022
