Cutting-edge treatment clears mum of cancer
11 Jun 2025 09:54
Published by:
Scott Callan
Remission: Michelle Gidion (Photo credit: The Christie)
A MOTHER who was diagnosed with cancer two years ago is now in complete remission thanks to a cutting-edge new experimental drug.
Michelle Gidion, 56, is receiving the treatment as part of a clinical trial at The Christie in Manchester for an aggressive type of blood cancer called AML.
In February 2023, Michelle had been experiencing bruising and tiredness. She mentioned this to a friend, Pamela, who insisted she went the GP where they took a sample of her blood for testing.
Michelle said: “Pamela saved my life by making me go and get checked out. I put the bruising down to having a very active lifestyle, but now I realise it wasn’t normal. Running a home with four boys was always hectic so I didn’t think being tired was unusual.”
The family were due to go on a holiday to the French Alps and at the airport waiting for the flight Michelle received a phone call from a haematologist who broke the news that the blood test results revealed she had leukaemia.
The consultant advised her not to board the plane as the platelets in her blood were so low she could potentially bleed to death if she had an accidental injury. The whole family were in shock and had very little time to decide what to do. Not wanting to ruin the long-anticipated dream trip, they chose to fly despite the risk.
Michelle said: “I didn’t know anyone who had had leukaemia and had no idea how dangerous it was to travel.
“I’d been walking up hills only days before and wasn’t feeling unwell. I didn’t want to spoil things for my sons, but as it turned out it was the wrong call to make.”
The situation was so stressful that Michelle became ill as soon as they arrived in France and the family returned home 24 hours later.
Michelle was taken directly to her local A&E from the plane where she spent 48 hours before she was transferred to The Christie where she stayed for five days and had a bone biopsy which confirmed she had AML.
She went straight onto a course of chemotherapy which she responded well to and went into remission, but after only five months the cancer returned.
It was suggested Michelle had a stem cell transplant to cure her of cancer and luckily a perfect match was found with a stem cell donor from the international register. She had the transplant in March 2024.
But despite going through the gruelling transplant procedure and being given an 80 per cent chance of it being successful due to her age and level of fitness, biopsy results in May 2024 led to the devastating discovery that the procedure hadn’t worked.
By this point Michelle was frail, with no energy and could barely walk.
So, in July 2024, with options running out, she was offered the chance to participate in research at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Manchester Clinical Research Facility (CRF) at The Christie.
Michelle takes two tablets of the trial drug every morning and two in the evening and comes to The Christie every four weeks for monitoring.
Last month she was told that the drug has got her into complete molecular remission which means there are currently no detectable signs of cancer in her blood or bone marrow.
Michelle said: “I’ve been super active all my life. I was a fitness freak in my 20s and I was regularly walking near our home in the foothills of the Pennines on the edge of the Peak District.
“We are just a very outdoorsy family, so this diagnosis really turned our lives upside down. The trial feels like there’s light at the end of a very long dark tunnel.”
Dr Emma Searle, a consultant haematologist who leads the trial at The Christie, said: “We are very pleased with Michelle’s progress on the trial. She has tolerated the drug well with minimal side effects, feels well and can enjoy life. This could potentially be a new therapy for patients with AML who have specific gene mutations and have relapsed after initial treatment, or may in the future be added to standard treatment for newly diagnosed patients to improve outcomes.”
You may be interested in