A CANCER patient given two months to live is now free of the disease after being given a drug so experimental it is yet to be named.
Retired teacher Eliana Keeling, 65, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in 2020 and told a year later that her cancer was terminal.
Eliana Keeling, 65, was given two months to live but is now free of cancer after being given an unnamed experimental drug
But she refused to accept it was the end and started a clinical trial at The Christie cancer centre a month later.
She was in remission within six months, allowing her to have a bone marrow transplant.
The trial involved the drug azacytidine and an experimental treatment.
Eliana, of Manchester, said: “I’ve been given a new lease of life and feel like The Christie has worked a miracle.”
Dr Emma Searle, consultant haematologist at The Christie, said: “Eliana had a poor prognosis and her only chance was the clinical trial and bone marrow transplant for long term survival.
“We’re really pleased Eliana had such a good response and is now leukaemia free.
“Given she had a very limited life expectancy when the chemotherapy failed to work, this is an excellent result for her.
“Not all our trial patients who have AML respond as well as Eliana did, but we are grateful to every patient and relative that feels able to support research here at The Christie.
“Trials are so important to make progress in treating cancer.”
