\n<\/p>\n
O<\/span>ne of the first patients to benefit from a pioneering smart drug that appears to melt away the \u201cinvisibility cloak\u201d that can shield cancer cells from treatment is Pat Brogan, from Cowdenbeath, Scotland.<\/p>\n The 68-year-old, whose tumours have shrunk by almost a third, is preparing to walk his daughter down the aisle this month and holiday in Spain with his wife, Linda \u2013 milestones he once feared he would never reach.<\/p>\n Brogan joined the trial in 2025 after he was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in 2021. He sought medical advice after losing his voice and hospital scans revealed tumours affecting his vocal chords.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was first diagnosed nearly five years ago, I was getting ready to say my goodbyes. To be here, and to be living a relatively normal life, is a miracle. My mum, sister and dad had all died from cancer, so I thought that the run of awful luck might have ended with me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was quite a shock when I was diagnosed. I had been singing and dancing at a music festival shortly before my diagnosis and felt fine. I almost couldn\u2019t believe that I could be that seriously ill.\u201d<\/p>\n Brogan, who worked for Scottish Water for 35 years, underwent chemotherapy and immunotherapy for about three years before his tumours began growing again. He was offered more intensive chemotherapy, which might not have worked, or the opportunity to join the trial.<\/p>\n The treatment involves a smart drug, GRWD5769, which prevents cancer cells hiding from the immune system, allowing immunotherapy to find and kill disease cells. The results were presented at the world\u2019s largest oncology conference in Chicago.<\/p>\n Describing the treatment as having \u201cgiven me my life back\u201d, Brogan said he now enjoyed \u201ca good quality of life\u201d, including daily walks with his dog, Seamus.<\/p>\n \u201cWe spent a lot of time in Spain before my diagnosis, and now we\u2019re planning to go back for a holiday. My daughter is getting married in June and I\u2019ll be able to walk her down the aisle \u2013 something I never thought I\u2019d be able to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a good life. I get up every morning and look forward to the extra time I have to spend with Linda and the rest of my family, including my two grandchildren, who are just starting their adult lives.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cI\u2019m so grateful to Prof Stefan Symeonides and his team in Edinburgh, and to all the other patients who have taken part in cancer research before me. I wouldn\u2019t have the life I have now without them.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully, by taking part in research, I can also make things better for people like me in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the first patients to benefit from a pioneering smart drug that appears to melt away the \u201cinvisibility cloak\u201d that can shield cancer cells from treatment is Pat Brogan, from Cowdenbeath, Scotland. The 68-year-old, whose tumours have shrunk by almost a third, is preparing to walk his daughter down the aisle this month and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[654,252,10657,1124,1476,4737,3141,646,873],"class_list":{"0":"post-49971","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-cancer","9":"tag-drug","10":"tag-goodbye","11":"tag-hope","12":"tag-patients","13":"tag-ready","14":"tag-research","15":"tag-smart","16":"tag-success"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}