Robert Dolan’s whole life changed after he stepped out for a dog walk and experienced a pain in his foot.
When the grandad-of-12 returned home, he found his foot was bleeding – but never imagined it would be a life-threatening condition.
A biopsy showed that a lump on the 72-year-old’s foot was actually melanoma and further tests revealed the cancer had spread to his lymph nodes and lungs.
After surgery to remove the lump, Robert quickly started treatment at The Christie, a cancer centre in Withington. However, the first immunotherapy drug he tried didn’t work – so he moved to a combination therapy with the immunotherapy drugs, Nivolumab and Ipilimumab.
His first four cycles were done at the Withington site, but then doctors explained to Robert that his combination treatment could be carried out at home in Trafford – which meant he could spend time with his wife Irene and their spaniel Meg.
‘Being treated at home feels more personalised. I’m in a familiar environment, and it is more relaxed. The chair I sit in at home is more comfortable than in hospital, and I can have the dogs around me distracting me,’ said Robert, who has fostered hundreds of young people with his wife over the years.
‘It’s like having someone put a warm blanket around you when you feel poorly. You feel in very safe hands.
‘A nurse comes every four weeks to give me an infusion, and they are brilliant. They phone to say what time they are coming. As I’ve had five treatments, I think I might have met most of them now.
‘They introduce themselves, make me a cup of tea and talk to me as they set everything up. They are very efficient, but it also feels relaxed, like an old friend dropping in to see me.
‘As they treat me, they tell me what will happen next. And before they leave, they ensure I’m booked for my next blood test. When they go, I can get on with the rest of my life until the next lot of treatment.’
Robert’s most recent PET scan shows no sign of disease progression in his lungs.
This means his treatment team can book him in for radiotherapy to his lymph nodes.
The news means that Robert – a keen motorcycle fan – can soon get back to enjoying life with his spaniel Meg, his wife Irene, and their 12 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
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