'I never thought I would see my son grow up'

In 2018, Julie Blackburn was diagnosed with incurable breast cancer and given two years to live – but seven years later she is celebrating her son Henry's 13th birthday.

"I will never be cured, but this magnificent drug developed by Cancer Research UK is keeping me alive and for much longer than anticipated," she says.

"As a result, one by one I get to give Henry the letters I wrote to him, never thinking I would be here to see him read them. The last being for his 13th birthday, when he became a teenager."

Ms Blackburn, 53, from Bishopthorpe on the outskirts of York, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2015, after finding a lump while showering.

Henry was three years old.

She had a mastectomy and reconstruction as well as three weeks of radiotherapy.

"Despite the shock of getting a diagnosis, everything went well and I began taking the hormone therapy drug Tamoxifen and needed check-ups every six months. I thought that was the end of it and I was grateful to have put cancer behind me," she says.

But in 2018 she felt a change and discovered a new, unrelated cancer had already spread and was in her lymph nodes and bones. She was diagnosed with stage four secondary breast cancer.

"When you get a secondary diagnosis, they often say you have between two to five years as it becomes stage 4. But I'm living proof that it's getting better and the treatments are getting better," she says.

She was prescribed Palbociclib - a chemotherapy drug that works by targeting and blocking cell cycle processes, destroying cancer cells.

The drug became available to NHS patients in 2017.

Now Ms Blackburn's cancer levels are the lowest they have been since her terminal diagnosis and remain stable.

"So while we actually have cancer, people are living with it a lot longer and things are getting a lot easier because they don't have to have such harsh treatments," she says.

"And even though you're still getting side effects, you can live a life.

"My life might be very different, but it's my life and I'm living it. I always say cancer chose to live with me and not the other way around, so I make sure it follows me on my journey."

Ms Blackburn takes the chemotherapy tablet every day for three weeks followed by a week off.

She says the side effects include fatigue, being prone to infections, and a lot of sores in her mouth.

But the drug also means she is around to see her son grow up – and raise money for Cancer Research UK so it can continue to develop more drugs.

She says: "I never thought I'd be here. My son is now a teenager. He's 13. It's brilliant.

"I never thought I would see the day where I had to buy his secondary school uniform.

"I've got a moody teenager, but I don't care. I'm glad I've got a moody teenager because I'm alive."

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