I beat cancer as a teenager, and now I'm helping others to fight the disease
A Newcastle man who survived cancer as a teenager and was inspired to become a doctor is welcoming a multi-million pound investment from Cancer Research UK.
Dr Dan Mattison, now 25, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) when he was 14-years-old and had just started studying for his GCSEs at Cramlington Learning Village.
ALL is a cancer of the white blood cells, which help the body to fight infection. Each year in the UK around 400 children are diagnosed with ALL.
“After more than three years, Dan completed his treatment in January 2018, two weeks before his 18th birthday and we were able to look forward to the future” explains his mum, Angela Mattison, who works as an Assistant Project Manager at Newcastle University.
Because of his experience, Dan set his heart on becoming a doctor. After graduating from Newcastle University with a degree in medicine, he is now fulfilling his dream, and is a Foundation Year 2 (F2) doctor at a hospital in Warrington.
Dan, who now lives in Manchester, said: “It’s all a bit of a blur looking back now, I remember being shocked when I was diagnosed, but also remember feeling unwell for a while before then.
“My treatment was tough, but I was lucky to be under the care of a fantastic team, whose compassion and positive attitudes ultimately inspired me to become a doctor. They created such a kind, caring and cheerful environment, and all had such passion for their work, things I realised I wanted in whatever career I chose.
“I learned so much from them both from a personal and professional point of view, and I always aim to provide the same qualities to patients of my own.
“It’s been a while since I finished my treatment now, and I have begun to realise the long term impact of a serious illness at such a young age, especially psychologically. I also have a greater appreciation of how lucky I was, having known other young people who unfortunately did not survive.”
Angela added: “No parent expects to hear those terrible words, ‘your child has cancer’. And his diagnosis turned our world upside down. But, he coped with years of treatment with unbelievable courage and strength.
“Thanks to improvements in research and better treatments, we’ve been able to see Dan complete school, graduate and go on to be a doctor, inspired by the amazing medical professionals who helped save his life 11 years ago. Not only that, but his sister Evie, now 20, has also been inspired by this and is studying Pharmacology at Newcastle University and wants to explore a career in cancer research.”
As part of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month this September, the family are encouraging people to support Cancer Research UK for Children & Young People to help drive more progress in tackling the disease.
Dan’s dad, Gary said: “There’s not a day goes by, even now, where we don’t think about what happened to Dan. It can be a feeling of worry if we hear he’s poorly or quite often it’s a feeling of how lucky we are that he was able to pull through when we met others on the ward who didn’t make it.
“We are incredibly grateful to the researchers and medical professionals who cared for Dan. Quite simply without their work our lives would look totally different today.”
Two research projects at Newcastle University are celebrating £4.1million of investment from Cancer Research UK to explore how children with ALL, the same cancer Dan had, can be diagnosed and treated more effectively to improve survival rates.
Dr Lisa Russell, Senior Lecturer in Childhood Cancer and Haematology, and Professor Anthony Moorman, Director of the Leukaemia Research Cytogenomics Group, will lead the two research projects that will explore the biology of ALL and how we can use that information to find the most effective treatments and reduce the challenging long-term side effects of chemotherapy.