A retired primary school teacher with a matter of months to live is now enjoying life thanks to a new blood cancer drug she is taking as part of a clinical trial at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester.
6 years ago Chris (Christine) Rennie, 63, from Meols, on The Wirral had been unwell for a year. She’d made several trips to see her GP, but the bone pain she was suffering was thought to be arthritis, night sweats were put down to the menopause and her asthma the cause of her chest infections.
In May 2017 a blood test finally revealed she had myeloma, a type of blood cancer that develops from the cells in the bone marrow.
Chris had to endure nine types of chemotherapy over five years as well as a stem cell transplant at The Royal Liverpool hospital. She also had eight hospital admissions for sepsis and pneumonia and suffered broken bones including a spinal collapse.
With no options left and just a few months to live, the grandmother of 3 was referred to leading cancer centre, The Christie, and offered the opportunity of participating in a phase 1 (early phase) commercial clinical trial run by CellCentric, a privately-owned UK-based biotech company. In April 2022 Chris agreed to participate in research at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Manchester Clinical Research Facility (CRF) at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust (The Christie) in Manchester.
Thanks to CellCentric’s new trial drug, inobrodib, Chris is in partial remission with her cancer reduced by more than 50%. While myeloma isn’t a curable cancer, her cancer is currently well controlled. She now visits The Christie every four weeks for blood tests and monitoring.
“I feel better than I’ve felt in years. The side effects are minimal, and I’ve not had any infections since being on the drug.” Chris Rennie explains: “When I was diagnosed, I didn’t think I’d ever see a grandchild and now I spend so much time with them. It’s joyous. I enjoy life more than anyone I know. I do something enjoyable every day and I also make sure I walk 10,000 steps.
“I’m very lucky as I have a wonderful, close, supportive family especially, Steve, my husband of nearly 40 years and several very good friends. They help me stay positive. I’m so appreciative of still being alive. It gives me a real buzz. I’m now looking forward to meeting my fourth grandchild due to be born in the spring.”
