“I know I am alive today thanks to research” – Dorian’s blood cancer story
Dorian Burrows, 76, lives in Norfolk and was diagnosed with high-risk myeloma, a type of blood cancer, in 2019. As part of his treatment he was accepted onto the MUK9b OPTIMUM clinical trial, which was co-led by The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR). He has now been in remission for nearly four years.
I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2018 and was being treated on a watch and wait basis. But then I had terrible back pain, and my GP ordered blood tests. I’m so grateful for him for doing that. When the results came through, he called me and said: ‘Oh, Dorian, it looks as if you've got myeloma. And I said, ‘What's that?’ I’d never heard about it before.
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I was just about to start treatment when I was called in by the consultant, who told me that further blood tests had revealed high-risk myeloma, and I probably had between six months and five years to live. He said if I could get to the Plasma Cell Disorder Clinic at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital that afternoon, I might be able to get on the MUK9b OPTIMUM clinical trial. Entry to the trial was closing that evening, but luckily I made it in time and was accepted.
My treatment on the trial was tough – six months of induction treatment followed by an autologous stem cell transplant. This was followed by a 12-month consolidation stage. I am now on part five – the maintenance stage and have just celebrated my 46th month of remission. I’m currently taking the treatment daratumumab monthly.
‘My family kept me going through treatment’
I have a great family – my wife, two children and four grandchildren. They’ve kept me going through my treatment. This has enabled me to carry on with the other great passion in my life – riding motorcycles. When I was diagnosed, I swapped my two-wheel Harley for a three-wheel Cam Am Spyder. Last year I did 15,000 miles on it with my friends, the members of the No Rules, Have Fun club we set up together.
When I'm on the motorbike, all the worries, or everything else, just goes to the back of my brain. One in two of us will get cancer in our lifetimes but I don’t think people realise the effect is has, and how easy it is to feel down. I’ve been on medication now for six years and it can cause aches and pains – until I get up and get going. Having an all-encompassing hobby like my bike is so important in keeping a positive attitude to myeloma.
I'm retired now and live near the sea. I used to work for a major international company where I looked after all their international sponsorships. For most of my life, I've travelled around the world. I lived in Hong Kong for some time and visited Asia Pacific. I loved every minute of my job. I was in control of my life and when myeloma called, I found I was no longer in charge. The myeloma controlled me which was very difficult at first to manage.
Myeloma is always there in my mind. My brilliant consultant said to me when I saw him last face to face: ‘You know, I wish it were a case of, if it comes back. But it's not, it's a case of when’, which is very much like having the sword of Damocles hanging over my head. I never know when I go for my monthly blood tests, if they’ll say they, ‘Well, Dorian, it's back’.
‘We need to find a cure for blood cancer’
There’s absolutely nothing I can do about it, apart from take the treatment. I went on the trial because I wanted to help the scientists find a cure and I know I’m alive today because of research. If we don’t have that research how does anybody learn anything? We found a vaccine for Covid, we need to find a cure for blood cancer and we need to have the resources to do that – which means funding.
I’ve followed the ICR for a while now. Every time I read Search, the scientists are working on something new, and everything that they do always seems to be pointing in the right direction – pointing to a cure, or to a new way of doing things. I’m so impressed by what the ICR has achieved and I am hopeful that new treatments will be found.
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