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Cancer patient has first round of private chemo after LBC listeners raise thousands for treatment unavailable on NHS
13 August 2024, 08:54
Megan McClay interview
A young woman with a rare form of cancer has had her first round of treatment in a private clinic, after her fundraiser was given tens of thousands by listeners to LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast.
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Megan McClay, 31, called Nick's show in 2023 after doctors gave her two years to live, and she was unable to get the specialist treatment for her rare form of cancer on the NHS.
Her fundraiser for private treatment, which before the call had garnered around £12,000 in donations, shot up to nearly £80,000 after she hung up.
Now she has undergone life-prolonging treatment for her ocular melanoma at a private hospital in Southampton.
And she is making plans for the future, with her partner Dimi proposing to her in Rome last November.
Cancer patient Megan McClay reacts to your donations
Megan told LBC: "I'm a lot more present and a lot more grateful, because there are a lot of people who have been in my situation who are not here today to be able to feel the way that I feel and appreciate the things that I appreciate.
"I know that one day I won't be able to so it's a big reminder to not take the small things for granted."
Dimi, her fiance, said that he felt "incredible hope".
"It puts a lot of weight off our shoulders in order to continue fighting this and also having the best quality and quantity of life that we can, and time."
Megan will know after the next round of treatment how successful it has been.
For now, she wants to raise awareness of the struggle faced by the people who cannot get treatment on the NHS, but who also cannot afford to go private.
"We're still looking at people having to sell their homes or having to give up the opportunity to have this life prolonging treatment, which is incredibly devastating to see now".
Megan said she was first diagnosed with cancer in 2020 after noticing "a small flashing light in the corner of my left eye".
"As soon as I went to A&E, they referred me to a specialist who then confirmed ocular melanoma, so that was the only symptom that I had," she said.
"I was working in pensions. I just met my partner, the world was big, and life felt like it was going to go on forever, as it does for a lot of people."
Two years later she was told it had spread to her liver and she only had two years to live.
"I always knew from the beginning of diagnosis that there would be a chance that that was going to happen, but it took me a while to actually comprehend that," she said.
Ocular melanoma is a form of eye cancer that develops in the cells that produce pigment. It affects around five in one million adults.
Megan knew a treatment called chemo saturation could add years to her life with minimal side effects.
But it costs an "intimidating amount" and despite having approval from care guidance body NICE to go ahead with the treatment, it is not paid for by NHS cancer funding, because it is considered a medical device, not medicine.
Recounting the call with Nick, she said that she "just said [she was] trying to fundraise for a treatment that has been approved by NICE but isn't available on the NHS. 'This treatment could prolong my life'. And then ended the call."
She added: "I refreshed my fundraising page, and it was going £20,000, £30,000, £40,000 and by the next day, we had nearly £90,000 pounds."
Speaking last year, she told LBC listeners: "Thank you, so so much, there are no words to express how incredibly grateful my family and myself are. You have given me the gift of life and I cant thank you enough, and thank you Nick for giving me an opportunity to speak about this."
Megan's fundraiser is still active here.
