A mother-of-three has told how Dame Deborah James saved her life from fatal bowel cancer.
Lyndsey Ainscough, 40, from Leigh in Greater Manchester, was diagnosed with severe stage 3 cancer after having symptoms for several months.
The school attendance manager only sought help after seeing campaigner Dame Deborah on TV in the weeks before her death on June 28, 2022 – two years ago this week.
Ms Ainscough told the PA news agency that she had been experiencing problems such as bleeding and fatigue but thought she had irritable bowel syndrome.
Thanks to an experimental immunotherapy treatment at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester, she is now cancer-free.
Dame Deborah’s mother, Heather, welcomed the news and said it was an “honor to hear the impact” of her daughter’s work “through beautiful stories like Lyndsey’s”.
Ms Ainscough told PA: “I developed quite a lot of symptoms during the Covid lockdowns and suffered from bleeding, weight loss and fatigue.
‘I had seen Deborah James on the news and she was trying to get the word out about her story. One day it clicked.
“I remember I was sitting in the kitchen doing the ironing and when she came on the news she said something that caught my attention.
“And I turned to my husband and said, ‘These are the symptoms I’m getting, maybe I have colon cancer.’
“He shrugged his shoulders with ‘don’t be silly, you’re too young to have colon cancer’. And from that moment on I actually decided to get checked out.”
Ms Ainscough’s GP sent her straight for a colonoscopy in June 2022 to examine the lining of her bowel.
“I thought I went because I had IBS or something like that, because I always had bloating,” she said.
“I didn’t really think anything of it at the time.
“I didn’t make a big deal about it, my husband was working and I didn’t ask him to come with me or anything like that.
“I really thought I was going to be diagnosed with IBS.
“My mother took me for the appointment and it was more or less confirmed that it was rectal cancer.”
Mrs Ainscough, who was 38 at the time, was talking to nurses in the room when suddenly “there was an awful silence”.
She said: “I could see something on the screen – obviously I didn’t know what it was, but I knew it was something.
“It never crossed my mind for a minute that it could be cancer.
“The computer turned off… and the nurse turned to me and said, ‘Did you see what was on the screen?’ I said, ‘Yes, what is it?’ and she said, ‘we don’t know for sure, but it’s very likely it’s cancer.’
“It’s very hard to explain what happened next, to be honest, but I felt like the bed was closing in on me, it was a complete shock, a complete shock.
“I had to ask her several times to repeat what she had said…I thought, ‘I have cancer, I’m dying’.”
Mrs Ainscough went home and told her husband Christian the devastating news.
The couple decided to tell their eldest child, Alfie, now 12, but felt their other children Perry, now four, and Spencer, now eight, were too young to understand.
“The concerns were enormous, especially as we had such young children,” Ms Ainscough said.
“To be honest (Alfie) accepted it quite well at the time, but that was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.
“And telling my dad was also one of the hardest things to do because my dad wasn’t there and it was completely unexpected. It was horrible to tell him.”
More devastating news followed when doctors told Mrs Ainscough she was not suitable for surgery.
The tumor, which was 5 cm in size, was located on the outside of the intestine and therefore could not be removed and a stoma had to be placed.
However, after a referral to Christie in July, medics offered hope that she would be eligible for a clinical trial of immunotherapy.
“It was a no-brainer, I was 100% committed to taking it,” Ms Ainscough said.
She joined the trial in September 2022 and also underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which led to symptoms including loss of appetite and extreme fatigue.
“It was incredibly difficult, especially around Christmas, which was also my favorite time of year, and it was my son’s birthday,” she said.
However, good news was on the way.
Scans from January last year showed Mrs Ainscough was completely cancer-free; the immunotherapy in combination with chemotherapy and radiotherapy had eradicated the disease.
“I felt like I had been given another chance,” Ms Ainscough said.
“I couldn’t believe it was actually gone. I thought they said it had shrunk and then they were ready to do surgery, but it was completely gone.
“A miracle.
“When they say there is a possibility of getting a full answer, you never think that’s going to happen…when I heard that, it was just unbelievable.”
Since recovering, the Ainscoughs have been able to enjoy a family holiday and Mrs Ainscough’s family threw her a surprise birthday party for her 40th.
“My son went to Wembley with his school rugby team so I got to see that,” she said.
“My daughter is starting school this year, so I see Perry going to big school.
“All those things are going through your mind when you’re having the treatment – you won’t see it. How does your family ever deal with that?
Ms Ainscough credits Dame Deborah’s awareness campaigns with her seeking a diagnosis.
“Dame Deborah helped save my life,” she said.
“I think the fact that she told her story about having children – I know they’re not as young as mine – but she was a normal young woman with children, with this horrible diagnosis.
“And it actually affects us that it can happen to normal people from all walks of life… it really makes no distinction. It can affect anyone at any time.
“I literally saw her on screen that day and openly spoke about the importance of recognizing symptoms and not feeling ashamed, and urged me to get checked. I owe that to her.”
Mrs Ainscough, who loves netball, now only needs quarterly scans and monitoring to make sure the cancer has not returned.
Dame Deborah’s mother Heather said: “My daughter Deborah was a smart and brilliant campaigner for people affected by cancer.
“Her first instinct after being diagnosed was to shout from the rooftops about bowel cancer and raise awareness so others didn’t have to go through what she did.
“Deborah worked relentlessly to improve the lives of others until the end of her life, so it’s an honor to hear the impact of her work through beautiful stories like Lyndsey’s.
“Through the Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK, we hope to continue Deborah’s incredible legacy by spreading vital cancer awareness and funding ground-breaking research that will help give even more people affected by cancer more time with the people of who they love.”
The clinical trial at the Christie involves radiotherapy plus chemotherapy tablets for five weeks, along with the new immunotherapy drug durvalumab, given intravenously every four weeks for 16 weeks.
Dr. Claire Arthur, consultant oncologist at Christie, said: “We are very pleased with Lyndsey’s results from the clinical trial.
“There is no evidence of the tumor and she tolerated her treatment for rectal cancer (a form of bowel cancer) very well.
“We are seeing an increase in colorectal cancers in young adults, so it is important that people with possible symptoms do not delay going to their GP and getting checked.”