Geelong’s Wendy West has beaten doctor’s odds after they gave her close to 18 months to live when she was diagnosed with Stage 4 Small Cell Lung Cancer in 2021. She speaks with Jena Carr about her cancer experience and how she is thankful for a clinical trial for keeping her alive.
After having a fall that fractured her back, Geelong woman Wendy West had scans taken at the hospital, which led to a shocking discovery.
Doctors diagnosed her with Stage 4 Small Cell Lung Cancer, a fast-growing cancer that starts in the lung and multiplies uncontrollably.
“Doctors found out that I had cancer that had already spread. It’s just by accident that they picked it up,” she said.
“They were X-raying my back, and a photo was accidentally on the wrong angle, which caught one of my lymph nodes, which they noticed was swollen, so they thought they’d look further into it.
“They came out first and said I had Stage 4 cancer, but the worst was when they came back and said that it had reached my brain, so that was just devastating.”
Wendy said hearing about her diagnosis “was awful” and that doctors didn’t think she would live to see 2022.
“I was diagnosed in June 2021, and they gave me 12 to 18 months, but December that year is when the ones grew in my brain,” she said.
“Two grew from nowhere, and they had grown to two centimetres in six weeks.
“Doctors didn’t think any treatment could beat that growth rate, but they did try the radiotherapy and at that point, it was November when they noticed the tumours had grown.”
After Wendy received the cancer diagnosis, her boyfriend of four and a half years proposed and the two got married three weeks later.
“My husband Dave West has been my rock, I wanted to know what love is and he showed me,” she said.
“He plays in the Glitter Gang Band (a Geelong-based 70s glam rock band), and he got me on stage and proposed to me. We had the wedding organised and were married in three weeks.
“The wedding was amazing. It was just so touching, emotional and beautiful.”
Wendy said she had suffered 30 years of domestic violence before she met Dave and that her husband had “been amazing”.
“Domestic violence is horrible, and I believe there is a reason for everything,” she said.
“I believe my experience of it has made me stronger by helping me fight cancer. To me, I would rather be facing and fighting cancer than living domestic violence.”
Wendy is a current Barwon Health’s Andrew Love Cancer Centre patient undergoing a new clinical trial at the Adrian Costa Clinical Trials Centre.
The trial is a ‘Phase 2 open label study of Sacituzumab Govitecan (IMMU-132) in subjects with metastatic solid tumours’.
Wendy said the trials had come at the right time for her and were helping keep her alive.
“It’s just amazing and I can’t believe the results they have made. Certain cancers have disappeared altogether, and the others have all shrunk,” she said.
“It’s just incredible. They call me a miracle, but I think it’s this trial, the doctors and all the staff. I’m very lucky.”
Wendy said her work was one of the biggest supports for her and that it was important for people going through a similar experience to remain positive.
“I’ve stayed positive the whole way through. Initially we grieved and it was a horrible time, but I stayed positive the whole way through,” she said.
“Don’t give up. Just get out of bed and try to do as much of the normal things you used to do; that’s my best advice.
“My everyday things were to get up, go to work routinely and live a normal life. Go out, have fun, and don’t fall into the sad hole.
“When I go to chemotherapy, I say, ‘I’m going in to recharge my batteries’, and that’s how I look at it.
“I still work full time now and I am a purchasing officer which involves data entry and purchasing which I enjoy…and my bosses have been fantastic in supporting me on the way back to work.”
Wendy has now lived close to two years longer than doctors originally predicted and said she was thankful for the many people who have helped her through her cancer journey.
“My family and loved ones have been so supportive; they give me what I need to live for,” she said.
“I am proud of how they have handled my diagnosis, and like me, they remain strong and positive. They provide me with support and love that gives me hope.
“Without the Andrew Love Cancer Centre, I would not be here, and you can’t thank someone enough for that.
“Radiologist oncologist Tracie Gleisner took a chance on me with radiation to my brain, which worked when she thought it wouldn’t…and two new brain tumours died from that.
“If it weren’t for the clinical trial and its people, doctors, staff and oncologist Dr Shu Fen Wong, I wouldn’t be here either. I didn’t know there were such beautiful hearts out there.
“Hearing of the Costa Families’ contributions to the trials has brought me to tears. It’s just so generous and lovely of them.
“At the end of the day, I wasn’t meant to make it into 2022. I’m here now and it’s nearly two years past when they thought I would live, so I’m very lucky.”
People can find out how they can help cancer patients like Wendy by visiting www.barwonhealthfoundation.org.au
Help is available by contacting Safe Steps on 1800 015 188, 1800 Respect on 1800 737 732, or Lifeline on 13 11 14.
