Terminal Derry cancer patient Kelly Dubdhda will not give up hope and says ‘my children need me’

Forty-one year old Kelly Dubdhda was told in January she had triple negative stage three breast cancer and, in the midst of Covid 19 restrictions and lockdown, underwent gruelling treatment and a mastectomy.

A scan later confirmed she was clear of cancer, but just seven weeks later, Kelly, whose four sons and one daughter are aged 20, 17, 9, 7 and 3, was told it had returned.

The cancer had spread from her lymph nodes to stage four in her chest wall, liver and lungs. Devastatingly, she was told her cancer is now terminal and she has less than 12 months to live.

But, speaking to the ‘Journal’, the determined Liverpudlian, who has been living in Derry for 11 years, said that is ‘not an option and not going to happen.’

“I’m determined to beat the odds,” she said.

A fundraiser was set up last week to raise funds to enable Kelly to take part in innovative new cancer trials in Cardiff University.

According to the university, Cardiff researchers have now discovered T-cells equipped with a new type of T-cell receptor (TCR) which recognises and kills most human cancer types, while ignoring healthy cells.

Kelly is eligible for the trial, but it has been halted due to Covid 19.

She is hoping to keep herself as well as possible in the meantime via a healthy lifestyle and ongoing carboplatin chemotherapy. The fundraiser has already raised over £4000, over £1000 more than her target of £3,000.

Kelly is ‘amazed and delighted’ at the fundraiser’s success and paid tribute to the local community, who have been a huge support since her diagnosis.

She has also hailed the work of her medical team in Altnagelvin Hospital and at its breast clinic, who, she said, are ‘unbelievable.’

Kelly also wants to highlight the importance of following up on any health issues or worries and asking your doctor for bloods to be taken.

She said: “Looking back, I was sick for a while, with a cough I just couldn’t shift. I was tired and under the weather, but I just put it down to being a single mum of five children.

“We were moving into our forever home last November and I thought that I would get it sorted after that.

“I did go to the doctor previously, as I would wake up feeling like I was suffocating. But, as I have asthma, it was put down to that and the pains in my chest were put down to anxiety and depression.”

Kelly was in fact life-threateningly anaemic, something that could have been picked up earlier had blood tests been taken. When she wasn’t getting better, Kelly’s friend phoned her GP and insisted she be seen.

She was and was then referred as an urgent case to Altnagelvin Hospital.

On January 2, it was confirmed she had cancer and on January 9, a biopsy confirmed it was triple negative breast cancer, stage three, one of the most aggressive and which ‘a lot of the time, takes young mums.’

She began chemotherapy on January 23 and doctors wanted her to have eight rounds of chemotherapy before a double mastectomy.

“I had three out of eight cycles of chemotherapy before a decision was made, amidst the chaos of the onset of Covid, to perform an emergency mastectomy and the removal of my lymph nodes in my left arm.

“The results were positive from the post operative pathology report, showing the tumour of over 3.5 cm and two or three of the positive lymph nodes were found in the removal of 12, assuming - like the tumour - the FEC (chemotherapy) had been successful in shrinking the cancer.”

Kelly went on to have more chemotherapy and in June, was informed that her scans had come back clear for cancer.

“However, it was a lump found above my mastectomy scar that urged the further scans, showing there was one node that slipped through the net and was cancerous.

“A planned removal was arranged for September 14. However, routine scans showed the cancer was showing nodes on my chest wall and had spread to my liver and lungs, a diagnosis that wasn’t even expected by the staff at Altnagelvin’s cancer centre for at least another three to five years.

“Subsequently, surgery was cancelled and that’s when the prognosis of terminal stage 4 triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), that gives less than 12 months to live once it has metastasized on organs as a secondary TNBC.”

The oncology team were keen to commence a form of immunotherapy/target therapy to try and slow down this aggressive form of cancer.

“This started the fight to stay well in an already challenging health crisis,” said Kelly, who is adamant she will beat it and will live to see her children grow up.

She is currently undergoing carboplatin chemotherapy.

“They’ve said I can stop at any time, but I’m not going to. I want to be as well as possible for when the trials start back up again. I don’t want my story to be this. I want to defy the odds.

“I’m hoping that the fact they found the cancer seven weeks after I had previously got the all clear will be of benefit to me.

“I’ve been told most people live between seven and 11 months, but there’s no way I’m having that. I want to be a mum for many years ahead.”

Kelly has been ‘blown away’ by the kindness of her local community in Galliagh and beyond.

“They’ve been so, so good to me. My family couldn’t come over to help, because of Covid and everyone just really looked after me and the children. I could never thank them enough.

“Now, with the amount raised for the Go Fund Me, I’m just so grateful. And so many people have been saying prayers, which mean just as much, if not more to me. I also can’t fault everyone at Altnagelvin, who have been unbelievable.”

Kelly, who said she is trying to meet each day with humour and positivity, is hoping the carboplatin will slow down the spread of the cancer so that she is well enough for the trials.

“I actually feel more well now than I did before I started chemotherapy the first time. I really want to bring awareness to people to look after themselves and look about themselves if they feel something isn’t right.

“Mums, especially, put themselves on the back burner. I thought I was just tired. But go to your doctor and ask for bloods. It’s so simple.

“I’m not angry about what has happened to me. I’m convinced there is an answer. There will be. My children need me,” said the courageous mother of five.

You can still donate to the fundraiser at https://www.gofundme.com/f/kells-treatment.