Cancer patient's £10k scanner gift to hospital

A FORMER cancer patient has said a £10,000 thank you to staff at the hospital she said "gave me back my life".

- By LORNA HUGHES

Pam Wickham was diagnosed with metastatic poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma of unknown primary (CUP) in July 2022.

The rare form of cancer means cells have spread from an unidentified primary site to other parts of the body.

In Pam’s case, the lymph nodes in her groin were impacted.

Treatment for her condition was challenging because the original source is unknown but doctors believed Pam's original cancer source to be somewhere in her pelvic organs.

She underwent 11 chemotherapies in 11 weeks along with an additional 25 radiotherapy sessions in the last five weeks of treatment.

It was during this time that Pam first experienced the bladder scanner machines at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough. To say thank you, Pam has now surprised the hospital’s radiotherapy department with a brand-new bladder scanner machine to support other people with cancer undergoing pelvic radiotherapy treatment.