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For most people getting married is the happiest day of their life, but for cancer and kidney disease survivor Suzannah Scott, walking down the aisle this year will be an extraordinary achievement.
Twice in her life, the 24-year-old has been given just days to live.
But thanks to the ingenuity of a Princess Alexandra Hospital doctor and a treatment which had never been used before in Queensland, Ms Scott is set to marry her long-time partner this October.
Five years after she was injected with modified blood cells shipped from Scotland to ‘kill’ the cancer in her brain, Ms Scott is now considered to be cured.
Ms Scott said she started getting sick from the age of eight and after a number of tests and blood transfusions, was diagnosed with medullary cystic kidney disease.
“My kidneys were filling up with cysts and had basically stopped working,” Ms Scott said.
“Just before my ninth birthday, the Children’s Hospital called my mother and said, ‘You’ve got half an hour to get her here or she might be dead in a couple of hours.’”
“I was put on dialysis straight away.”
Then, in 2002, she received a life-saving kidney transplant at Queensland’s transplant centre, Princess Alexandra Hospital.
“It was such a relief for everyone when I got the transplant. Halfway through 2003 I was going so well I was allowed to travel to America for five weeks,” she said.
But the day after she returned, Ms Scott’s life turned upside down for a second time.
“I was playing catch in the backyard and I never miss a ball – except that afternoon,” Ms Scott said.
“I suddenly got really sick and every time I moved I threw up. I had no idea what was happening.”
Ms Scott was ultimately diagnosed with Post Transplant Lymphoma Disease (PTLD), a rare brain cancer.
Princess Alexandra Hospital haematologist, Associate Professor Maher Gandhi, said in very rare cases, transplant immunosuppressant drugs combined with a virus can lead to lymphoma.
“Sometime after her transplant, Suzannah got glandular fever, which in normal cases doesn’t cause too many problems,” Dr Gandhi said.
“But combined with the reduced immunity from the transplant drugs, it led to the development of the lymphoma.”
Dr Gandhi said lymphoma in the brain is always particularly difficult to treat.
He said while Ms Scott initially responded to chemotherapy and radiation therapy, the cancer returned shortly after her first course.
“We give cancer patients an assessment of zero to four, with four being the worst.
Suzannah was given a four – unfortunately there wasn’t much hope.
“She was unconscious for most of this time, because the lymphoma was pressing on her brain.”
At the age of 18, Ms Scott was referred to palliative care.
“They told my family I might only have a few days to live,” Ms Scott said.
Dr Gandhi, in Europe at the time, spoke to an Edinburgh research team that was experimenting with a new treatment for cancers that are caused by viruses.
“They were manipulating T-cells to ‘kill’ the viruses and subsequently the cancer,” Dr Gandhi said.
“T-cells are white blood cells that specifically control immunity. When a transplant patient is given immunosuppressant drugs, their natural immunity is depleted and, as in Suzannah’s case, can lead to major complications.”
“Essentially this new treatment is giving patients back their immunity.”
Dr Gandhi returned to Brisbane to suggest the option to other members of Ms Scott’s medical team.
“I knew straight away we had to give it a go – we had exhausted all other treatment options, and none had worked.”
Dr Gandhi received an order of the manipulated T-cells from Edinburgh and they were injected into Ms Scott.
“She began to improve the same day,” Dr Gandhi said.
“Even more remarkable was that she only needed three further injections of the T-cells and she showed no side effects.
“She woke up from her coma, with the good news that she was in remission.”
Five years on, Ms Scott is now considered cured – and couldn’t be more grateful for the work of Dr Gandhi.
“He’s my favourite doctor,” she said.
“Everyone at PAH has been fantastic though, especially all of the doctors and nurses. I feel like I’m the luckiest person in the world.”
Since Ms Scott’s case, a further four PA Hospital patients have received the trial T-cell replacement treatment in conjunction with research being conducted by the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR).
Of the four who have been trialled, two are in remission and showing no side effects.
Associate Professor Gandhi has received two Queensland Government Smart State Clinical Research Fellowships, for his research into lymphoma.
Ms Scott will marry her partner Darren, 27, this October.
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