Dance teacher is first in Kent to have immunotherapy injection for skin cancer

A dance teacher is the first patient in Kent to have pioneering immunotherapy treatment for skin cancer as an injection.

Laura Farrow will have injections every four weeks for a year, instead of receiving the drug via an intravenous infusion.

The aim is to supercharge her immune system to help her fight the cancer, which was diagnosed after she found a lump in her armpit.

Medics told Laura the lump was a melanoma in her lymph node, and it had likely spread from elsewhere.

But despite scans and tests the original source was never found – and may never be known.

Laura, from Whitstable, said: “It’s known as a cancer of unknown primary, and consultant Nick Williams told me sometimes they never find out where it has come from.

“But I’ve had the most amazing care and I’m feeling very positive.

“If I hadn’t been teaching I would never have found the lump – I don’t think any normal person would stretch that far!

“I think it was meant to be that I found it.”

The mum of one, who ran Limelight Stage School for 20 years, had no symptoms, but felt a tightness in her arm while stretching before a class.

She said: “It felt like a string was pulling my arm back. I poked around and then found the lump.

“At first I thought nothing of it but I decided to get it checked just to rule anything out.

“Even after the biopsy, when I’d googled everything, I was expecting to be told it was breast cancer or lymphoma – I never dreamed it would be skin cancer.”

Laura, 59, had surgery at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford to remove 25 lymph nodes, and melanoma was found in five of them. A full body check found no signs of skin cancer but she will have immunotherapy for a year to teach her immune system how to fight the cancer.

She said: “My oncologist Sarah Qureshi explained how the immunotherapy would work and I was excited but nervous to be the first to have it as an injection. It is the same drug but just in a different form.

“I have an injection every four weeks, and the aim is to supercharge my immune system. So far I’ve had no side effects, and it is reassuring to know if the cancer does pop up again I am already having treatment.

“Years ago, melanoma was a death sentence but targeted treatment and immunotherapy has changed that so I do feel positive.”

Laura will also have full body scans every three months, and scans of her head every six months, to check for cancer developing elsewhere.

She said: “I feel very lucky it was only in my lymph nodes and nowhere else, and that Mr Williams decided to go straight for the surgery to remove them.

“It feels strange to know it could come back at any time, and it could be anywhere; life will never be the same and it is always in the back of my mind.

“I have learnt so much about cancer, and the lymphatic system and how it works, but I haven’t really made many changes because I already had a healthy lifestyle as a dancer.

“You could destroy yourself with googling, so am just carrying on with my life, but it feels like the NHS has its arm around me and is keeping a very close eye on me, and that is comforting.”

May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month, and you can find more information about melanoma skin cancer at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/melanoma-skin-cancer/