“By participating in clinical trials, you are helping people with cancer who come after you” – Bill’s experience

When 72-year-old Bill Hall from York was diagnosed with bowel cancer in January 2024, he was working as a locum doctor on the Orkney Islands. Bill didn’t want his nearly 50-year medical career to come to an end just yet, but knew he had to pause work to focus on his cancer treatment.

In December 2023, Bill was taking a bath when he first noticed “a squelchy sensation” in his abdomen. He knew from his previous medical experience that the feeling was unusual, so booked an appointment with his GP the following day. 

“I started my medical career working for a general surgeon and would often feel people’s abdomens to assess whether it was safe for people to undergo surgery. I knew the alarm bells to look out for, and the sensation I felt didn’t feel good at all.” 

Bill had no other symptoms for bowel cancer but insisted he got referred for a scan and blood tests. A CT scan found a tumour in the right side of his colon, and he was diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer at the end of January.

Bill was temporarily living in Leeds at the time of his diagnosis. Before beginning his treatment, he was approached by James Platt, Medical Oncology Registrar at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, about taking part in FOxTROT 3, a pioneering bowel cancer clinical trial. The trial is funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research and led by researchers at the University of Leeds and the University of Brimingham.

The standard treatment for bowel cancer is to have surgery to remove the tumour, followed by chemotherapy afterwards to help stop the cancer coming back. Those taking part in FOxTROT 3 are offered a short course of chemotherapy before surgery. 

Bill continued: “The chemotherapy before my surgery made the tumour much smaller and the surrounding tissue easier to remove. As a result, the procedure was done through keyhole surgery, assisted by a robot, leaving minimal damage and no complications. The developments in surgical technique and chemotherapy since I started my career have been quite extraordinary.” 

Following his surgery, Bill had his second course of chemotherapy on the FOxTROT 3 trial. 

“The post-surgery chemotherapy was very successful, and I was surprised at how quickly I was able to focus on getting back to normal life.”

 Bill is now having six-monthly appointments to hopefully confirm the cancer has not returned. Having recently been deemed fit for work, he is looking forward to supporting people with their health for a couple more years before he retires. 

He said: “It’s been a real privilege being a GP in Yorkshire. Having a Yorkshire cancer charity is meaningful and important for people in the region. I spent much of my career in Settle, supporting hard-to-reach groups including farmers to speak openly about their health. In addition to funding clinical trials, I am pleased to see Yorkshire Cancer Research funding research which looks at why people in rural Yorkshire don’t come forward to their GP with cancer symptoms.”

The RURALLY study examined the barriers preventing people in rural communities from seeing their GP with symptoms of possible bowel cancer. Findings from the study will help inform ways of supporting people in rural areas to seek help if they notice anything abnormal about their health. 

Bill concluded: “I have seen huge developments in cancer research since I started my career. There is far better integration now between surgeons, oncologists and nurses, meaning better collaboration in clinical trials and hospital care, and therefore, better outcomes for people with cancer. I feel very positive about the future of cancer research.”