South Shields cancer counsellor shares own diagnosis to support others with terminal disease
Kris Jepson met Jo Pyke to hear how her diagnosis has moved her to help even more people
A cancer counsellor from South Tyneside has used her own diagnosis of terminal cancer to help support others who are also dying of the disease.
Mother-of-two, Jo Pyke, 48, has supported cancer patients for 13 years in her role as a counsellor at Cancer Connections in South Shields.
She was diagnosed with the incurable illness before Christmas last year, just months after marrying her husband, Jef. She told ITV News she knew her diagnosis needed to be used to support others.
She said: "I was diagnosed with mucosal melanoma. There was never a thought of why me? I think the thought initially in the forefront of my mind was I’ve got to share this story.
"If it’s going to help somebody else, then I’m ok, but in the back of my mind I knew anyway that this was always going to progress and that there was no cure for it here in the UK."
Jo decided to set up a support group for other patients who are facing terminal disease.
She added: "We had about 10 people come. All in the same boat and to be honest with you, we laughed for the best part about some of the silly things that we’ve done and the changes that we’re going through.
"I’ve had amazing feedback and I think I’ve got about another six more people coming next Wednesday, so I’m going to be doing that once a fortnight."
The type of cancer Jo has is aggressive and usually not detected until it has already spread to other parts of the body.
She can only have immunotherapy in the UK, due to her having what is known as a "wild-type BRAF gene." That only gives her a 17% chance of slowing the disease.
In a bid to help, Jo's friend has set up an online fundraiser to get her special therapy in the US that could give her a 60% chance of extending her life.
According to Jo, TIL therapy would work by collecting cancer fighting properties from her tumour and growing them in a lab, before injecting them back into her body to target cancer cells. Trials for the treatment are ongoing in the US and in the EU, but not in the UK.
She said: "From the trials that have been done, people who’ve had this treatment with spread even to the brain, the liver, the kidneys, all their organs, they were clear of all their cancer within months of having this therapy and are still now, six years on, they have no evidence of disease.
"I’ve probably cried more in the last six weeks than I’ve cried in the last 20 years. I didn’t even cry when I got diagnosed.
"A lady turned up at my house the other day, who I worked with, remembered my address, with a big bouquet of flowers with a message ‘you saved my life and I’m now here to help save yours’."
Jo also recalled how she began crying after discovering her son had donated to her GoFundMe page: "I said ‘son, have you seen the go fund me page? I’m absolutely blown away’ and he said ‘yeh of course I’ve seen it, I donated. I’m working in McDonalds now, I can afford to donate to my mum’, and that was me crying again."
Jo's message is now simple: anyone concerned about symptoms should not be embarrassed but go and get themselves checkout out.
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