John Pattison survived hodgkin lymphoma and bladder cancer | vincristine | prednisolone | mitomycin | cystoscopy

DESCRIPTION

John Walker Pattison is still with us despite two protracted battles with cancer.  He was diagnosed with Stage IV Hodgkin lymphoma in 1975 and relapsed three times.  Then in 2018, he was diagnosed with bladder cancer, a diagnosis after which he relapsed once.  After his lymphoma diagnosis, treatment included an aggressive chemotherapy regimen, which included nitrogen mustard, vincristine, procarbazine and prednisolone.  John said effects from the chemo hampered his fight with bladder cancer and still affect him today, although his urinary function is just fine. 

John was in his late teens when he began to experience fatigue, night sweats, recurring cough and weight loss, among other symptoms.  He was doing heavy lifting in the shipbuilding business, had difficulty at work and one day on the job he collapsed.  Realizing he needed medical attention, he underwent scans and biopsies, and they led to a diagnosis of Stage IV Hodgkin lymphoma.  He was told his chances of recovery were slim.

In May 1975, his care team prescribed a chemotherapy cocktail of nitrogen mustard, prednisolone, procarbazine and vincristine, which only added to a high degree of fear he had for his future. 

Things went from bad to worse when he was informed that the chemo regimen didn’t work and he relapsed.  In April 1976, he was put on a different regimen with cyclophosphamide taking the place of nitrogen mustard.  That, too, was ineffective, resulting in another relapse.  In December of that year, his care team tried radiotherapy, again with no success. 

In April 1977, John went on a regimen of palliative chemotherapy, with single agent vinblastine.  On a subsequent visit, his oncologist raised his arms in triumph and shocked John by telling him he was cancer free.

John Walker Pattison thought cancer was in his rear-view mirror, but in 2018, while traveling by air, he discovered blood in his urine.  He was a health care professional and immediately knew something was wrong.  Again seeking medical attention, he was diagnosed with Grade II Transitional Cell Bladder Carcinoma.  He underwent surgery, followed by bladder installation of mitomycin chemotherapy.  That was followed by transurethral laser ablation in 2020.  Not long after that procedure, again, John was told he was cancer free.

John Walker Pattison enjoys normal urinary function, but says he will be dealing with the side effects of the chemotherapy and radiotherapy he underwent in the seventies.

That said, John wants to help others diagnosed with cancer.  He has written a book, “Shadow of a Survivor,” which he hopes will be a source of hope and inspiration.

Additional Resources:

John’s Book, “Shadow of a Survivor,” available on Amazon

John's Website, https://www.johnwpattison.co.uk

TRANSCRIPT

John Walker Pattison

Bruce Morton: Greetings.  This is the Cancer Interviews podcast, and I am your host, prostate cancer survivor Bruce Morton.  Our guest on this segment first survived Stage IV Hodgkin lymphoma, then more than forty years later, he survived bladder cancer.  He is John Walker Pattison of South Shields, United Kingdom, and he endeavors to help others through a book he has written on his journey, as seen through the eyes of a health care professional.  Now it is time to hear a story that packs quite a wallop.  Here he is, and John, welcome to Cancer Interviews.

John Walker Pattison: Thank you, Bruce.  I am delighted to be here.

BM: As mentioned, you have had two cancer journeys, one of them approximately half a century in the past.  Tell us about your diagnosis of Stave IV Hodgkin lymphoma.

JWP: In 1975, inexplicable fatigue consumed just about every moment of my day.  I began losing weight, and I realized that my feeble frame was being attacked by something.  Clearly, I had no idea what it was.  I was working in shipbuilding and was struggling with the manual labor that was part of the job.  Eventually I collapsed at work.  Something had me in a deathly stranglehold and was refusing to let go, but I had absolutely no idea what it was.   Little did I know that it would shape my future and my philosophy right up until the present day.  So, in April 1975, I was admitted to hospital, where a barrage of tests revealed that I had Stage IV Hodgkin lymphoma.  At the same time, my parents were told that my chances of survival were very, very slim.  So, here I am a free spirit, but now this diagnosis placed me on a rollercoaster of emotional turbulence.  I was staring through a kaleidoscope pf unknown reflections in which fear didn’t just arrive, it crawled under my skin and refused to leave.  Those horrendous feelings of fear turned every thought into a worst-case scenario.  The first round of chemotherapy felt like the moment my innocence was ripped away.  The drugs, which consisted of nitrogen mustard, vincristine, procarbazine and prednisolone didn’t just work on my body, they pulled my mind into dark, unfamiliar places where exhaustion, pain and the stench of fear were all tethered together.  I became very fragile, barely recognizing the person I was becoming.  Each treatment of this cocktail just took a little bit more from me, chipping away at my strength, my positivity and most importantly, my sense of control.  I have no shame in saying on more than one occasion I contemplated suicide.  It wasn’t always the heroic story I had imagined, but in its own strange way, it did keep me going.  Something in me refused to completely give up.  Sadly, in August 1975, I was told the chemotherapy hadn’t worked.  The cancer was no longer an illness, but a relentless tide that was sweeping into depths unknown.  That same year, another regimen of chemotherapy was started, this time with drugs called cyclophosphamide, a tablet, and intramuscular bleomycin, which would have long-term effects to this very day.  Sadly, less than three months later, I relapsed for a second time and in March 1976, I started a chemotherapy regimen, which included cyclophosphamide, given intravenously, plus vincristine, procarbazine and prednisolone.  My horizon narrowed and what once looked like a distant storm was looking like a permanent sky of improbability.  Sadly, in November 1976, I relapsed again, now for a third time.  At this moment, as most of the cancer was in my chest, I was given radiotherapy, but in 1976, that Christmas was without a doubt, a long, cold, desperately sad time, the worst Christmas of my entire life.  In January, the radiotherapy was completed, yet again after ten weeks, the telltale signs came bac, the lumps, the bumps, the night sweats, the weight loss and I was less of a patient and more of a battlefield, abandoned by mercy.  My body became a combat zone, scarred and scorched.  I didn’t know which way to turn.  I wasn’t sure if any more treatment would be offered.  Here I was, standing on the brink as a witness to my own extrication.  It was at that point that I was put on a palliative chemotherapy regimen.  It was in March 1977 that without my knowledge, my parents were taken to one side, and was told that the chemotherapy I was about to start was palliative in nature and that I would die from this cancer.  I started on single-agent vinblastine, injections given once a week until late August 1977 when I took a recuperative visit to relatives in North Carolina.  On my return, because I had improved significantly, I was admitted to a hospital for the most important investigations of my entire life.  I now had to wait.  The final night before getting all the results, fear was relentless.  On Thursday after the week of all those investigations, I headed back to the hospital, walking down the corridor, I had no idea what I was going to be told.  Then, like a torn curtain being opened, there he was, my oncologist, Dr. Atkinson.  He raised his arms before saying, “You are clear, all pretty clear.”  Those words, they were like a thunderstorm.  I had no words by way of response to my oncologist, my friend, who had given me such a wonderful gift.  After years of living under the siege of this cancer diagnosis, this silence of survival felt completely foreign.  Could I put the cancer experience behind me?  It was time to find out. 

BM: By the way, we hope you will find time to like and subscribe, and if you click on the bell icon, you will be notified whenever we post an interview.  We also want to remind you we are not distributors of medical advice.  If you or loved one seek medical advice, please contact a licensed health care professional.

John, this is a great story of survivorship.  In terms of your more recent diagnosis of bladder cancer, what led to your diagnosis?

JWP: In 2018, my wife and my 18-month-old grandson traveled to Washington, DC.  Whilst on the aircraft, I visited the bathroom and noticed that I was passing blood.  I knew instinctively with my health care background what this meant even though this was the first time that it had happened.  I knew how much cyclophosphamide I had received in the seventies.  A week and a half later, I returned home, I was admitted to hospital, a 2cm Grade II Transitional Cell Carcinoma of the bladder was diagnosed.  This was subsequently resected and treated with bladder installation of mitomycin chemotherapy.  After that, I went on to a surveillance program, including a cystoscopy every six months.  Then in 2022, again without any symptoms and this time without any bleeding, the cancer was once again picked up on surveillance.  Then I had to undergo a TULA, or, transurethral laser ablation.  I then went back into the surveillance program, and I am very, very happy to report that I recently had my final cystoscopy and I am completely clear. 

BM: Now, John, I have to ask you, after you got this second diagnosis, I suspect that mentally and emotionally, it would place you at a crossroads.  In other words, you could tell yourself you thought cancer was in your rear view mirror and you don’t have to worry about it going forward, yet here it is, or you could say to yourself, you have survived cancer once and that you can do it again.  In your case, which route did you choose?

JWP: Good question, Bruce.  It could have gone one of two ways.  However, I have a number of health-related problems, all as a consequence of the chemotherapy and radiotherapy that I received in the seventies.  This bladder cancer diagnosis could have been so much worse.  I am not for one second trying to trivialize bladder cancer, because it is a serious illness, but it could have been so much worse, and I knew that bladder cancer that is caught early could be treated very well.  So, I had to be positive, not just for my wife and for my grandson, Daniel, who is my world, my inspiration.  So, the positivity came flitting back, and as I say, supported by my lady wife, as well. 

BM: That said, when did you feel like you were moving toward survivorship, with respect to the bladder cancer?

JWP: Not until my recent doctor visit when I was told I was cancer free.  As long as you remain on a surveillance program, it will always remain on the back of your mind.  For me, it recurred a second time without any symptoms.  So, the surveillance program is something of a comfort blanket and without it, there will be that slight doubt in the back of your mind. 

BM: These days, and we are going to have to stir into the mix your Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis, if you think of your health before that, and think of your health as being 100 percent, and compare it to your health post-treatment for bladder cancer, how close are you to 100 percent?

JWP: The main problem I have is that I have this condition called pulmonary fibrosis, a byproduct of the chemotherapy and radiotherapy.  It is a continually debilitating condition.  Subsequently, I always have to have my inhaler to hand, as my lungs are affected much worse.  It is a condition that is irreversible.  It may well take my life at some point.  Again, without sounding too negative, yes I have these health conditions, butt at the end of the day, I realize how fortunate I am and I am very humbled to still be here.

BM: Now, what we also want to talk about is the advocacy space and how you occupy it.  You have written a book and its content is influenced by your being a healthcare professional.  If you would, tell us about your book.

JWP: So, I wrote “Shadow of a Survivor,” as a raw, honest account of survivorship.  It is jampacked with authenticity that I hope will stimulate every emotion that the reader possesses, from tears to laughter, and as I mentioned earlier, it includes a description of my four-year-old daughter, Donna’s, diagnosis of terminal leukemia.  It is fundamentally a story that promises to deliver that all-important inspiration that needs to touch anyone touched by society’s greatest fear, cancer.  It is an award-winning book, heartfelt, often humorous, but always an honest reflection of a life shaped by cancer, but never defined by it. 

BM: John, now it is time to wrap up, and we will conclude the way we usually do, with the following question.  If you had a private audience with someone diagnosed with cancer, that person may have lots of questions and you lots of answers; but if there was one point you wanted to make, one thing you wanted to make sure this individual took away from the conversation, what would it be?

JWP: That’s an excellent question.  Undoubtedly, and I am sure everyone agrees, cancer is a very emotive subject, especially for those touched by its outstretched tentacles.  Throughout my journey, fear kind of guided me through the complexity and often painful passage.  It also revealed a path that allowed me to find moments of clarity amongst the moments of chaos and ultimately find myself, if you like.  Cancer makes you recognize your own vulnerability , but that vulnerability can be used as your strength, as your inspiration, not necessarily a weakness.  Again, if I am to talk about my story, I would say never look back on life unless you are prepared to smile and be reflective.  Never look forward unless you can dream because we all need dreams, we all need hope and inspiration.  It is my inspiration that my book, “Shadow of a Survivor,” will play a part in that hope and inspiration to the individuals.

BM: Hope and inspiration.  Those are two great messages for anybody diagnosed with cancer.  John Walker Pattison, South Shields, United Kingdom, he’s been our guest and he has a very inspiring story of surviving cancer not once but twice.  John, thanks so much for being with us on Cancer Interviews.

JWP: Thanks, Bruce.  My pleasure indeed. 

BM: We will close by saying the same thing we always do.  If you or a loved one are on a cancer journey, you are not alone.  There are folks out there like John Walker Pattison with wisdom that can make the cancer journey a bit easier.  So, until next time, we’ll see you on down the road.

Additional Resources:

John’s Book: “Shadow of a Survivor,” available on Amazon

John's Website: https://www.johnwpattison.co.uk

SHOW NOTES

TITLE: John Pattison, Survivor of Lymphoma and Bladder Cancer – South Shields, England

John Walker Pattison is still with us despite two protracted battles with cancer.  He was diagnosed with Stage IV Hodgkin lymphoma in 1975 and relapsed three times.  Then in 2018, he was diagnosed with bladder cancer, a diagnosis after which he relapsed once.  After his lymphoma diagnosis, treatment included an aggressive chemotherapy regimen, which included nitrogen mustard, vincristine, procarbazine and prednisolone.  John said effects from the chemo hampered his fight with bladder cancer and still affect him today, although his urinary function is just fine. 

Additional Resources:

John’s Book: “Shadow of a Survivor,” available on Amazon

John's Website: https://www.johnwpattison.co.uk

Time Stamps:

02:04 In 1975, John began feeling extremely fatigued, which led to a diagnosis of Stage IV Hodgkin lymphoma.

04:16 Describes his multi-layered chemotherapy regimen.

07:50 Was told the chemo didn’t work, resulting in a relapse.

08:45 John relapsed a second time.

10:54 He was put on a palliative chem regimen.

13:10 Was stunned to learn he was cancer free.

15:03 Describes what led to his diagnosis of bladder cancer in 2018.

17:20 Asked how he dealt with a second cancer diagnosis.

19:24 Compares pre-diagnosis health to his health today.

stage IV hodgkin lymphoma

nitrogen mustard

vincristine

procarbazine

prednisolone

cyclophosphamide

intramuscular bleomycin

radiotherapy

vinblastine

pulmonary fibrosis

mitomycin

transurethral laser ablation