A little ray of hope for some cancer sufferers - or perhaps just a sunny antidote. A woman from Northern Ireland has stunned doctors and went against all the odds by beating terminal cancer - after her tumour mysteriously disappeared. There is speculation that her own immune system battled off the lethal mass of cells.
When a cancerous tumour was discovered on Sharyn Mackay’s kidney, doctors at Craigavon Area Hospital were so baffled by the rarity of it that they sent off samples to be investigated further by experts in London, Glasgow and Harvard.
Then more bad news came for Sharyn - a mother of four from Newcastle, Co Down - an operation was not possible and even chemotherapy would add mere weeks to her shortened life.
“They said it was spindle cell sarcoma which is normally a bone cancer,” she said.
“I was one of only 10 known cases where it had become a kidney tumour. The surgeon kept a watch on my kidney but in April 2004 he told me the cancer had rattled through my kidneys and lungs and I was a terminal case.
“The hospital said treatment was an option, but not a cure, and that I had a year to live at best.”
However, Mrs Mackay was left in a state of shock when a few months later, a check-up revealed the tumour had completely - and inexplicably - gone.
“The doctors were astonished and said it could not have been due to anything they’d done,” she commented.
“Four radiographers studied the scans and none of them could quite believe it. The tumours had gone and I was told to leave the hospital and live a full life. The cancer has never come back and I have never felt better.”
While Mrs Mackay is happy to believe her miracle was a result of faith and prayer, experts in the field are now speculating about a medical explanation - her immune system.
In a study examining Norwegian woman results revealed that 20 per cent of cases had recovered from breast cancer spontaneously - and inexplicably.
Professor of oncology at the Cancer Research UK center in Southampton, Peter Johnson said to the Daily Mail, “The immune system’s role is tantalising because we know something is at work in spontaneous remission but we don’t know what makes the system do it.
“The question is, how do you turn the immune system from an occasional assistant into a more constant helper?
“Cancer Research is funding research into this area and pharmaceutical companies are working in this area too.”
The extraordinary case of Mrs Mackay first came to the public’s attention in 2005 when she spoke to the Belfast Telegraph about her begging and praying to God to cure her.
She said, “The night before that scan I wrote in my journal: ‘Thank you God for healing me. I know I will get clear results tomorrow.’
“The following day my consultant at Craigavon smiled at me for the first time in ages. He explained that he had been dreading that day, as four world authorities had examined my scans and all confirmed the worst.
“But the most recent scan revealed the tumours and lesions were gone. He had called in radiographers and doctors to look over all the scans and no-one could explain it.”
