The Christie NHS Foundation Trust

Last week, we had the honour of celebrating an incredible group of teenagers and young adults who completed courses during their time at The Christie. 🎓 These courses, offered through AQA (one of the UK’s largest exam boards), cover a wide range of topics—from maths and science to CV writing and interview prep. This is all part of our pilot education and employment programme, specifically designed to support young people with cancer, both during and after treatment. The Christie was the first AQA-accredited hospital in the country, and since the programme began in late 2022, patients have completed over 250 modules. A huge congratulations to our class of 2025!

The Christie is one of only two hospitals in the country to treat a rare cancer called pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP). Affecting around 3 in every million people a year, PMP is caused by a tumour in the appendix which produces a jelly-like cancerous substance called mucin. As the tumour grows, the mucin spreads into the abdomen, coating the abdominal wall and major organs. Currently, the only way to treat it is surgery to remove any affected organs and tissue. The abdomen is then filled with heated chemotherapy to get rid of any remaining cells. This time last year, Jonathan Pearcey was recovering from his operation. His surgeon, Mr Clouston, removed his spleen, appendix, gallbladder, rectum and 95% of his large intestine, as well as a lot of tissue, including the outside layers of his stomach and liver, and his belly button. In total, he had 20 different procedures done in one operation. His abdomen was then filled with heated chemotherapy to try and get rid of any remaining cancerous cells. “Recovery from such a big procedure has been difficult both physically and mentally. But again, my family and team at The Christie have been with me all the way. When I was on the critical care unit, a brilliant nurse picked me up, both physically in getting me moving again after the operation, and mentally as well. I really pinpoint that as the start of my recovery. I’m not cancer-free, but I’m celebrating this milestone of a year since surgery, as it’s only when I look back that I can see how far I’ve come,” he says.

Thanks to advances in treatment and care, more teenagers and young people are surviving brain tumours than ever before. However, there’s currently no existing way of assessing what holistic support these patients need. Dr Kate Law, one of our research fellows, is trying to change this. Using a questionnaire designed with the help of nearly 130 patients, detailed information is now going to be gathered from 100 brain tumour survivors as part of their follow-up consultation. Researchers will then assess the impact the survey has on providing personalised care to improve the long-term support after treatment. “A third of all childhood cancers are brain tumours and survival is highest for 15 to 39 year-olds. Currently there is no assessment tailored specifically for young people with a brain tumour. We have identified an unmet need, and want to address this to make life better for young brain tumour survivors in the future," says Dr Law. “It is hoped that the evidence gathered from the YOU-CAN study will be a step towards a change in clinical practice in the future where every young person has access to a multi-disciplinary team for on-going support after being treated for a brain tumour.” If this trial improves the experience for patients at The Christie, then the plan is to roll it out to other hospitals around the UK. More 👉 https://bit.ly/3XyrkZS

Congratulations to the STAMPEDE team who won a prestigious NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research) Impact Prize last week. The NIHR Impact Prizes celebrate researchers and teams who have maximised the impact of their research to drive improvements to health and care services, better wellbeing, or economic growth. Professor Noel Clarke, consultant urologist at The Christie, is one of the principal investigators of the trial, and worked closely with the rest of the STAMPEDE team to design the study. STAMPEDE, which opened in 2005, has recruited nearly 12,000 patients worldwide. The main aim was to assess 10 different treatment approaches in men with advanced prostate cancer. It’s a landmark study that has produced multiple practice-changing results, improved life expectancy for patients with advanced prostate cancer, and informed how many complex clinical trials are structured. STAMPEDE finished recruiting new patients in March 2023 and follow-up of the final participants will finish later this year. But as one trial closes, a new trial opens. The STAMPEDE2 trial will take advantage of new technological advances to continue delivering better care for patients. Manchester Cancer Research Centre Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust The University of Manchester The Institute of Cancer Research #NIHRImpactPrizes

Dr Sacha Howell is leading a study that's aiming to identify which young women have a higher risk of developing breast cancer. The women taking part in the BCAN-RAY study - which was set up in the memory of singer Sarah Harding - do a questionnaire, have a low-dose mammogram and provide a saliva sample for genetic testing. 500 participants have taken part so far, 88 of whom have been identified of being at increased risk. The Christie Charity - one of the funders of the initial study - will now fund a research fellow to look into new ways to prevent and treat breast cancer in young women with the goal of reducing the number who die from the disease. “We’re really confident that we have a system that is working, from the results so far, which is great news,” said Dr Howell, who was also Sarah Harding’s consultant when she was being treated at The Christie. “These findings mean that we may be able to offer personalised ways to predict and prevent breast cancer more widely in the population in future." More 👉 https://bit.ly/4hqQpx3

Personalised medicine is the future of cancer treatment and thanks to advances in molecular profiling, we're able to offer patients more targeted options than ever before. One of the ways we're doing this in a research context is through a trial called TARGET National. Our researchers are matching patients with advanced, hard-to-treat cancers to personalised treatments using a simple blood test.🩸 Researchers analyse the genetic characteristics of a patient’s cancer from a blood sample. They look for any faulty genes that may help inform that individual’s suitability to receive an experimental treatment. Partly funded by The Christie Charity the TARGET National trial has recruited over 3,000 people so far. Pamela Garner-Jones is one of them. Watch her share her experience with Sky News. 👇

The researchers behind STAMPEDE, the world’s largest intervention prostate cancer trial, have been shortlisted for a prestigious National Institute for Health and Care Research Impact Prize. They've been shortlisted in the 'Established Investigator' category, with the winner being announced tomorrow (20th March). The trial, which opened in 2005, has recruited nearly 12,000 patients worldwide. The main aim was to assess 10 different treatment approaches in men with advanced prostate cancer. It’s a landmark study that has produced multiple practice-changing results, improved life expectancy for patients with advanced prostate cancer, and informed how many complex clinical trials are structured. Professor Noel Clarke, consultant urologist at The Christie, is one of the principal investigators of the trial and played a key role with the STAMPEDE team in designing the study. “STAMPEDE really is a landmark trial. It’s changed practice, saved the lives of countless men, and influenced how complex clinical trials are run. It’s been running for 20 years but is still having an impact. Most recently, we showed that a drug that’s currently used to treat type 2 diabetes can reduce the side effects of hormone therapy. The STAMPEDE and Christie research teams are proud to be involved in this landmark study and to have our work recognised in this way," he says.

🎂 Happy 15th Birthday to our first local treatment centre, The Christie at Oldham. The number of yearly radiotherapy treatments has grown significantly since the centre opened in March 2010 – from just over 11,000 in 2010 to around 17,000 in 2024. In total, the 38-strong team of radiographers, support workers, nurses, clinicians, engineers, physicists, and admin staff has delivered around 230,000 treatments. Support services available include complementary therapies, fatigue sessions to help patients cope with treatment side effects, and workshops on living with and beyond cancer. The latest addition is drop-in art classes, which are held every other month and can be booked at the information centre. Lead radiographer Julie Davies has been in charge at Oldham since it first opened. She said: “We are so proud to be celebrating 15 years of delivering cancer treatment and care here in Oldham. Being able to access radiotherapy and other services like the art room locally, rather than having to travel to Withington, means a great deal to our patients."

Today is Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) Day.🎉 CNSs are senior nurses who provide patients with specialist support from the point of diagnosis and beyond. Sarah Turner is a CNS in the non-melanoma skin cancer team. She says: "Having lots of patient contact is really important to me, and being a CNS gives me that. I act as a link between patients and their medical teams and really enjoy building relationships with them and their families or support networks." Read Sarah's story 👉 https://bit.ly/426twdF

Pamela Garner-Jones is one of over 3,000 people who have been matched to personalised cancer treatment thanks to a simple blood test.🩸 Researchers working on the TARGET National trial are using blood samples from people with advanced, hard-to-treat cancers to identify the genetic mutations that mean they can be matched with experimental personalised treatment options. Pamela, who has advanced cervical cancer that wasn't responding to treatment, was put on a trial called DETERMINE, which matches those with rare cancers, or common forms of cancer with rare genetic changes, with therapies specifically targeting those changes in cancer cells. Since starting on the trial last year, her tumours have shrunk by two-thirds, and she has a much better quality of life. Launched in July 2021, the study is partly funded by The Christie Charity and aims to recruit 6,000 patients across 19 UK Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres. Dr Matthew Krebs is Pamela’s consultant at The Christie and the chief investigator for the trial. He says: “Pamela has really benefited from being matched to this trial via TARGET National. Ultimately, we want to collect enough data to help support an NHS application to introduce this test routinely for cancer patients. "TARGET National provides an invaluable opportunity for cancer patients to access a state-of-the-art blood test for genomic testing and provides a framework for enabling more patients to access promising new experimental medicines in the UK." More 👉 https://bit.ly/4ixfzea