Devizes undertaker's revolutionary cancer treatment

8:14am Tuesday 20th January 2009

By Jill Crooks

To say that 2008 was a traumatic year for John and Mavis Stuart would be an understatement.

The Devizes couple were both diagnosed with cancer while their grandson on the other side of the world was seriously ill.

Mr Stuart, a funeral director, faced a bleak prognosis after being diagnosed with cancer of the pancreas but he underwent revolutionary treatment that appears to have halted the disease.

Mr Stuart has had problems with his pancreas for the last 14 years, which have resulted in periodic stays in hospital.

In October 2007 he began having stomach problems and he underwent numerous tests at private hospitals.

In June last year he had an operation on his bowel that involved his bile duct being bypassed.

The operation enabled the surgeon to take a biopsy of his pancreas and a week later he was given the devastating news that he had cancer.

Mr Stuart, 68, said: “The tumour was inoperable. My consultant told me that I had three to four months to live but it could be a bit longer with chemotherapy. I was wiped out momentarily because I wasn’t expecting it.”

A few weeks later the couple were stunned to be told that the pain Mrs Stuart had been experiencing in her right hip was not a suspected trapped nerve but cancer.

Mrs Stuart, 67, had successfully beaten breast cancer six years ago. Mr Stuart said: “When Mavis was diagnosed with cancer I just thought, what else could happen to us? Everything seemed so unfair.”

Mrs Stuart has undergone chemotherapy and had an operation to replace her hip joint.

While they had their own health to worry about their baby grandson Lachlan was also battling for life.

Born two months prematurely in December 2007 he was dangerously ill for many months and was in and out of hospital in Auckland, New Zealand, where his father, Mr and Mrs Stuart’s elder son, Duncan, 37, and mother Kate live.

John Stuart said: “For a long time Lachlan was attached to a machine the size of a fridge with breathing apparatus and he was given the last rites twice. It was an absolute nightmare.”

In August Mr Stuart read an article in the Daily Mail about a policeman from Cheshire who had undergone CyberKnife, a new radiotherapy treatment for cancer, for his pancreatic cancer and it had shrunk his tumour. The actor Patrick Swayze has also reportedly had CyberKnife treatment for pancreatic cancer.

CyberKnife is not widely known about, even in the medical world. It is currently only available in a few private hospitals abroad and is a huge advance on conventional radiotherapy as it does not damage the area around a tumour.

Mr Stuart contacted a medical agent and he went out to Turkey where CyberKnife is used in Anadolu Hospital.

Tiny marker seeds were inserted into his tumour, which ascertained if CyberKnife would be suitable.

Mr Stuart flew back to Turkey a week later and underwent three two hourly sessions of CyberKnife. He was awake throughout the treatment and it was painless.

CyberKnife works by delivering multiple beams of high dose radiation from a wide variety of angles using a robotic arm.

Mr Stuart and his wife, who celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary last November, returned to the hospital in Turkey just before Christmas for a scan.

This showed that the CyberKnife treatment had shrunk the tumour from two centimetres to one and a half centimetres.

The treatment has cost Mr Stuart £11,000 plus the cost of the air fares and hotel stays. Mr Stuart said: “Thank God I read about CyberKnife in the Daily Mail because if I hadn’t I would probably be dead by now.

“The surgeon in Turkey is pretty positive and said he hopes the tumour is dead. He says that the tumour may stay there, shrink or absorb into my body.

“CyberKnife is space age technology and I think it should be available on the NHS.”

Mrs Stuart is coming to the end of her chemotherapy treatment after which she will undergo radiotherapy. So far her treatment is progressing well and tests have shown that the cancer markers in her blood have decreased. She said: “The doctors say I have a good forecast and hopefully we are both on the mend.”

The news on their grandson Lachlan is also more positive and while he still has feeding problems he is slowly recovering.

The couple, who have another son, Robbie, 35, who lives in Australia, and two grandchildren, say they are indebted to their friends and employees who have supported them throughout and wellwishers who have sent them lots of cards.

Mrs Stuart, who with her husband is a director of their funeral business, said: “Our friends have been absolutely fantastic, they have taken us here, there and everywhere. They said they can’t do anything about curing us but they can help us.”

The CyberKnife system is a robot that performs radiosurgery using radiation to destroy tumours in a painless, non-surgical way.

By combining a robotic arm with image guidance from X-ray cameras it can treat tumours with pinpoint accuracy.

It can administer larger doses of radiation and causes less damage to surrounding tissue.

It can be used to treat, for example, early stage lung cancer, spinal tumours and multiple secondary tumours.

There are CyberKnife centres in Europe and America, including a pet hospital in New York.

From next month CyberKnife will be available at the private Harley Street Clinic in London.

For more information about CyberKnife visit the web site via the link on the right.

Mr Stuart said he would be pleased to talk to anyone who wants to know more about CyberKnife. He can be contacted on (01380) 724406.