Michael's story: The treatment that saved my life
At the age of 54, I was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer. I’m five years into my cancer journey now, and I wouldn’t be here today withing having had Lutetium PSMA.
My prostate cancer diagnosis story
When I was diagnosed, I knew it was bad, but I didn’t really understand what metastatic meant. I had this idea that prostate cancer was something that older men got and that it was slow. So, when I realised that I had a type of prostate cancer that had come on really fast, that was really aggressive, and that my survival prospects weren’t great – that was a shock. It didn’t feel real.
The impact of treatment on me and my family
It’s been quite a roller coaster. When I was first diagnosed, I started chemotherapy, which is the standard treatment that works for lots of people. Chemotherapy is wonderful in that regard. It works for lots of people. But it didn’t work for me. It made me really sick along the way. I knew my hair would fall out, but that was the least of it. I had nausea, my immune system collapsed, I got infections, and was kept in hospital.
I had a pretty terrible time with it, but it was also a really terrible time for my family. I was just so sick and clinging onto life. It was terrible for my kids to come and visit me. They’d come in sad, but they’d leave much sadder, which was awful. One of the things about cancer is that it’s not just something that affects you.It has a big impact on your family. Everybody comes on the journey.
The trial that saved my life
At the end of the day, the chemotherapy wasn’t working for me. My cancer came roaring back quickly. This was 10 months into my diagnosis, and I really thought that was it. I thought my time was up. I remember having a conversation with my oncologist where we spoke about needing to start planning, to get my affairs in order, which was difficult. But later on in that conversation, they also told me about a trial for this new treatment called Lutetium PSMA, that I was eligible for. I put my hand up and said “I’ll try anything at this point.”
When I got home, I hit up Dr. Google and started reading papers about the treatment. I was astonished. The papers were describing this amazing treatment that works. The people they were describing, sounded like me. It gave me a lot of confidence about the trial I was going to be on.
How LuPSMA is a game changer in metastatic prostate cancer treatment
When I first started, the team explained how it worked and why it was effective in dealing with your cancer, but they also explained that this treatment doesn’t have the same side effects and impact as chemotherapy.
The science is beautiful. It’s so simple. Lutetium therapy targets your specific cancer cells and it delivers the radiation right to those cancer cells – killing them. The difference between chemotherapy and Lutetium was astonishing for me. Lutetium worked and I had a quality of life.
I could feel the effects of Lutetium straight away. I had done my second round of it and had a test afterwards. The results came back and were spectacular. My cancer loads were decreasing. I had spots in my bones, all over my body – my spine, my ribs, my hips – and they were all reduced. And I felt fine! I could continue to work and keep up with my social life. I managed to surf a bit and had a swim every now and then. While I was receiving Lutetium, I looked so much better to my family and friends. It worked like the science said it should: the treatment attacked my cancer, minimized the side effects, and allowed me to continue on with a good quality of life. Obviously for me, personally, that’s great. But for the people around me, my kids, that’s pretty fantastic.
Advocating for wider access to this life-saving treatment
My experience with Lutetium has been fantastic. It saved my life. And it’s given me optimism about the future. I know I’ve got a type of cancer that can’t be cured. It’s not going to go away. But I also know that Lutetium PSMA is there, a treatment for metastatic prostate cancer that I can access that will work for me. But there are thousands of men with metastatic prostate cancer who don’t have that same access. This really troubles me. We know that it works. We know that it gives you quality of life. We know that it has a lesser impact on your family and friends. It’s available and it can be delivered anywhere, not just big hospitals in big cities. It’s right there and it could save thousands of people’s lives every year.
To make it happen, and to get more people access to this drug, we need the government to make the funding available. The science is there. The medicine works. The only barrier to getting this therapy to thousands of additional men every year is government funding. Funding that would make it more widely available, so that more people can access it and so that doctors, and medical teams all around the country can add this to their arsenal.
When I found out about LuPSMA and that I had access, I was more than relieved. I thought, “I can do this. I can survive. I’m going to keep going.” Thousands of people could have that same experience – a therapy that works, that makes not just your cancer journey, but the journey of your friends and family bearable. Having cancer is a pretty tough journey, but having more options means better care. It means more people will survive their disease. That’s why Lutetium is so important and I’d do anything I can to help advocate.
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Lu-PSMA is a treatment regime for select men with advanced prostate cancer. It is not a curative treatment. Please discuss with your treating care team if Lu-PSMA is right for you and how to access this treatment.