Back from the brink: Dan rings bell to celebrate being cancer-free
A 19-year-old is celebrating being cancer-free – a year after he was told that there was no hope and to “go home and make memories with his family”.
Dan Evans, from Newark, rang the bell to signify the end of his treatment, at the Hogarth Teenage Cancer Trust unit at Nottingham City Hospital.
“It means a lot,” said Dan. “I didn’t expect to be ringing it. It’s been a long two years, with real ups and downs. I’m just glad to be here.”
Mum Natalya told him: “We heard the bell ring when you were on the ward, remember? And I said ‘one day, that will be you ringing the bell.’ And today that day has come.”
It was autumn 2022 when Dan went to Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust’s (NUH) Queen’s Medical Centre with flu-like symptoms; that Christmas Eve, he was diagnosed with Primary Mediastinal B Cell Lymphoma (PMBCL), a rare type of non‐Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).
An expected six months of chemotherapy became 18 months of failed treatments, including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiotherapy, and pioneering CAR-T cell therapy.
“Halfway through my first chemotherapy, a scan showed that the cancer had got worse – it had spread to my lungs and my neck, and it was stage four,” said Dan.
Just days before Christmas in 2023, the family was told all possible treatment options had been exhausted, and that they should go home and make memories.
But Dan and his family refused to give up. Google threw up a clinical trial that had been successful elsewhere, using two drugs called Nivolumab and Brentuximab.
Consultant Haematologist Jo Addada said: “Our priority was, and continues to be, keeping Dan as well as he can be. Nivolumab and Brentuximab are not licensed for Dan's type of lymphoma.”
A GoFundMe was set up, raising £50,000 raised towards the £100,000 cost of Dan’s treatment - but NUH stepped in and funded several cycles.
Jo added: “We sought compassionate-use access from the manufacturers of each of the two drugs. One gave approval but the other drug was initially declined on the basis of Dan's blood count, which was lower than the levels stipulated in previous trials of the drug. We appealed this decision, and the company were subsequently agreeable to funding it. In the meantime, NUH funded several cycles of the treatment for Dan, which were successful.”
Those first few rounds of treatment shrunk Dan’s cancer by 90%.
Six months ago, Dan had a stem cell transplant and ended up in intensive care at QMC with sepsis – and the family were again told to prepare for the worst.
“We’ve been to hell and back,” said Natalya. “But I have never believed that there would be no future. We have had some very dark times, but I always knew he would make it. I knew.”
Dan is now catching up on a life that was put on hold. The family will be taking a much-needed holiday before waving Dan off to study geography at the University of Lincoln in September.
“The experiences I’ve had are so different to the majority of people my age,” said Dan. “I used to play football for Newark Town – I play pool now – it’s about learning to live with a new normal – it’s better than the alternative.”
“Six weeks ago, he could barely hold the cue,” said dad Mark. “Now, he plays like a pro!”
Natalya said she had a debt of gratitude to NUH staff: “I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart – they are angels. We are over the moon today, but we are still numb, because we have been through so, so much in the last two years, and we are still coming to terms with it – it feels so surreal. To go from how Dan was then to this – it’s just very hard to put into words.”
Teenage Cancer Trust is the only UK charity providing specialised nursing care and support for young people, aged 13 to 24, diagnosed with cancer.
Jo added: “Dan has had a very difficult cancer journey since his diagnosis of lymphoma, undergoing numerous rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy as well as CAR-T cell therapy and an unrelated donor stem cell transplant. He’s been very brave and positive throughout many adversities. The medical and nursing teams are delighted that he is now in remission and getting back to normal life.”
Dan is looking to the future – to a life beyond hospitals.
“I want to go travelling – just be free,” said Dan. “Life can change in an instant. I was fit and well – cancer doesn’t make exceptions. You’ve got to take everything as it comes, make time for the small things. You don't realise that life – and time – is a privilege.”