I had two choices back in the summer of 2012. One drug would slow down the cancer which had spread from my recently departed left kidney. There was an alternative - a type of immunotherapy called Interleukin 2. I was only 70 percent suitable and I later discovered 80 percent was the threshold. But I had a consultant who reckoned I had the mettle and enough stamina and strength left in my then 52-year-old tank to handle it. His response to my wife, Felicity's question 'were there any side effects' was a vague 'possible flu-like symptoms' as we sat in his office at The Christie. I began the treatment knowing I was up against it but blissfully unaware of what was heading my way. But the upshot was a trip to hell as the Interleukin stimulated the production of T cells and killer cells to attack the cancer which first swamped one of my kidneys and then spread to my hip, lungs, a renal vein and the top of my spine. It was a brutal long haul of needles and nausea and rocking around the bed when the rigors (shakes) hit. Pethidine was my friend to ease this bed bouncing, and the source of Clockwork Orange-like terrors – I awoke convinced I was being beaten up in my home town in the West Midlands, chased across a square, which in my mind looked exactly as it did in 1975. A nurse eased my troubled mind – ‘Right love, let’s try a mouth wash’. Another night I was sitting at the bottom of my bed trying to switch on an imaginary television. As well as messing with my head the industrial amounts of drugs I was taking and the treatment had other side effects. The skin fell off my arms, legs, scalp, and face. The killer cells attack was like a blunderbuss – anything in the way cops it too. So the treatment also wrecked my thyroid gland and triggered acute arthritis. But in 2012 it saved my life. I remained in remission until 2016 when cancer returned to my right kidney. This time the tumour was inside the kidney rather than a 7cm limpet which had engulfed my left one the first time. Radical surgery worked the second time - a chunk of my right kidney was removed. The brutal immunotherapy regime was ten days treatment, and then a couple of weeks to recover before another ten days at the clinical coal face. I recalled how the Professor assessed me one day to see if I could take another course of Interleukin before I went home for a rest. At that moment I recall describing how I felt like a bloke who had downed ten pints and spent the night in a nettle bush. But I am alive. My youngest of three children, Anna, was seven years old when she asked one night as I tucked her in "you gonna die dad"? She is now 20 and I have seen her notch up A-levels. play football for Chadderton Park and Radcliffe FC, get to University in Leeds, learn to drive, and become a beautiful woman. In some ways the treatement that saved me was tougher than the disease itself. I spent six days in a high dependency unit and needed four pints of blood after the cancer returned in 2016. I emerged from the unit a morphine-sozzled morsel of a man. Too long in the HDU also triggered a psychosis which manifested itself with vivid dreams and memories of my parents' marriage disintigrating and a catatonic state. This sounds bleak. But I have had 13 years of "extra time" which in 2012 looked unlikely when diagnosed and told I had a one in four chance of living. I am also grateful to Professor Robert Hawkins for NOT telling me in graphic detail what potential side-effects to expect - a masterclass in patient management. His encouragement to get through it was enough together with stellar aftercare at Manchester's Christie Hospital to reconstruct my battered mind and body, and mates from the M.E.N. calling at my house for coarse, humour-heavy chats, with cappuccinos and bacon butties. But patient care is ever evolving. The cancer support charity, Maggie's, opened a Norman Foster designed refuge for families affected by cancer behind the new Christie Hospital Cancer Research Centre in 2016. It has developed a different approach. Made of Swiss-sourced wood it resembles a Scandinavian or American timber house, into which sunlight filters all the way through. Lord Foster told me at the time: “I think if we could make a difference, as a place to somehow give you some calm at that critical point when being diagnosed. “It will be all about the people who give you that reassurance and other patients. But I do believe that the surroundings can make a difference, if they are optimistic, cheerful, and non-institutional. Hospitals are run by incredible people but the surroundings are generally very impersonal.” Now Maggie's says a "pioneering programme" to help people with a cancer diagnosis prepare for treatment has supported over nearly 3,000 individuals since launching last year. "Getting Started" was introduced by Maggie’s in collaboration with The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and is available to all patients preparing for chemotherapy and immunotherapy treatments at The Christie. Sessions include a short film featuring Christie oncology staff, Maggie’s experts and former patients sharing personal insights into the treatment process. They take place three times a day, Monday to Friday, at Maggie’s. Patients receive an invitation to the session when they book in for treatment. Staff work with small groups to address key topics including understanding available treatments and potential side effects and how to manage them. Family members or friends can also attend for additional support. Patients would previously be given this information at The Christie on the day of their treatment. Maggie's say that delivering this information in a busy clinical environment "can often make people feel anxious and overwhelmed at what is already a new and unfamiliar experience." Stevie Wise, 38, attended a Maggie’s Getting Started session before beginning chemotherapy for breast cancer. She said: “The session was just so useful. Up until that point, the only proper conversations I’d had with anybody about what chemo would look like were in very clinical settings. But this gave me a bit of space, in a more relaxed environment with other people, to be able to ask questions and hear from other people which I found really useful. It makes you feel like you are not on your own. “Until coming along to Getting Started I had been reluctant to get involved in anything like Maggie's because I didn.t feel it was for me, but I'm so glad I did. Not only did it help me prepare for chemo, it opened up avenues to other forms of support.” Barbara Mullineaux, 65, also attended Getting Started before starting chemotherapy at The Christie. She first underwent chemotherapy for ovarian cancer in 2022 and is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatment for metastatic ovarian cancer. She said: “Because I had an easier time the first time I had chemotherapy I thought Maggie’s was not for me. I thought I don’t need to go and speak to anybody about stuff – I just get on with it myself. But when I came in for the first time and I saw Maggie’s I thought ‘Oh what a beautiful place’. And then ‘what lovely people’. I thought the Getting Started Session was really helpful. “It made me think about people who were watching the film on a laptop whilst they were already in the chemotherapy chairs. It isn’t the same experience as watching it live with other people prior to treatment. “Even though I’ve been through it once, watching the video helps you to remember certain things and you pick up things, that has all been really useful to me. I’d say to anyone starting treatment to go to the session, and especially bring your partner with you, because my husband asked questions that I didn’t even think to ask.” Since Getting Started launched, 84 percent of people attending said they felt more confident with managing treatment and side effects, while 100 percent of people said they would recommend the session to others. The charity has also experienced an increase in equity of access to Maggie’s in Manchester with more people from underrepresented groups accessing the centre through the programme. Getting Started is being rolled out across Maggie’s 24 centres nationally. Robin Muir, Centre Head at Maggie’s, Manchester said: “We’re so pleased to be working closely with The Christie to improve the support on offer for people beginning cancer treatment. “Feedback so far has been really positive, with people saying they have a better understanding of what will happen during treatment, and what they can do to look after themselves, while families have said they feel much more involved in the process. And not only do those attending receive pre-information treatment, but they are also introduced to our services so they know they can always return for further support.” Gemma Jones, Lead Nurse SACT Services at The Christie, said: “We have an extremely busy department, delivering high volumes of chemotherapy and immunotherapy treatments six days a week, so people can find coming in for their first treatment quite overwhelming. “Getting Started means that patients can meet one of our nurses and one of our healthcare assistants ahead of time, which can help. It’s vitally important to provide protected time and space for reassurance and queries to be answered, helping patients to attend to feel more physically and mentally prepared.’ “Peer support is also important, and the sessions give patients a chance to meet other people going through treatment for cancer in a relaxed and non-clinical setting.”