Hospital's 'wondrous' myeloma treatment praised

"What they do is wondrous - they create a comfort zone for us, in the best sense of the term."

Barry Neville was diagnosed with a form of blood cancer called myeloma in January 2012.

He's thanked the team at Royal Berkshire Hospital, who have received a national award for their commitment to patients living with the disease.

The hospital was presented with the Clinical Service Excellence Programme award from charity Myeloma UK.

The 79-year-old from Wokingham, Berkshire, says: "I feel really fortunate and it all comes down to the hospital staff who are treating us, to their knowledge and their ingenuity."

Barry adds: "It's not just the advance knowledge they have about myeloma but the medical team are remarkable in their ability to find a way to accommodate side effects, to help you cope with that.

"And they're doing it on the run, as it were, because they never quite know what the patients are going to bring in."

Myeloma affects more than 33,000 people in the UK, and is incurable but treatable in the majority of cases.

The treatment can lead to periods of remission but the cancer does come back.

About one in two people wait more than five months before the right diagnosis, with one in three diagnosed in A&E.

Speaking about his own diagnosis, Barry tells the BBC: "I was in some considerable pain with my back, thought I'd been overdoing it in the garden, and went to see our chiropractor.

"He did something which produced this terrible pain in my back and I was sent by him to the GP in Wokingham."

A doctor recognised Barry's symptoms, but by the time the cancer was caught he had a crushed vertebra and holes in his arms, legs, and skull.

He was then enrolled in a clinical trial.

Last month he discovered that the cancer had come back for the fourth time, with new treatment due to start soon.

Barry says he is "apprehensive" but determined to remain positive.

"Most people are lucky to last four months," Barry explains.

"I was treated early. I was given five years. I've now done 13 and I've seen loads of things I didn't expect to see."

He adds: "Initially I thought this is it. I'll start planning for the end.

"But lots of things happened. My son got engaged to be married a couple of months after my diagnosis. I was there for the wedding. I've seen a grandson who's 11 next week.

"My wife and I celebrated our golden wedding anniversary. We've done 57 years now. I'm 80 in a month's time."

Myeloma UK's Monica Morris told the BBC: "For people like Barry every day really counts. The more treatments that are available the more options help people live longer and better lives."

She said the hospital won the award because they are "very willing to listen, to change, to adapt, and they've got a real appetite for doing the best they can, and constant improvement".

Dr Pratap Neelakantan, consultant haematologist at the hospital, said the team was "extremely proud" to receive the award.

"This award symbolizes not just our achievements, but the strength and unity of our haematology department," he said.

"Here's to many more milestones ahead."

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