An ultra-marathon running academic has told how he dismissed signs of his cancer as the lingering after effects of a cold.
Anson Mackay, who lives in east London, initially contacted his GP in January 2020 when he was left with swollen glands in his neck for weeks.
But within hours of filling out an online form he was told to see the family doctor immediately and the 57-year-old was referred to an ears, nose and throat consultant.
Tests showed the geographer and professor emeritus at University College London had cancer in his lymph nodes.
Scans then revealed he had squamous cell carcinoma of the right tonsil — a type of throat cancer— caused by human papillomavirus (HPV).
HPV, a virus that affects the skin and cells lining the inside of the body, is the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) globally but can also be spread through skin-to-skin contact.
Despite intensive weeks of radiotherapy treatment that saw him celebrate having ‘no evidence of disease remaining’ by August 2020, just a year later he was dealt the devastating blow after scans revealed it had spread.
Diagnosed with stage 4 HPV cancer across both lungs, it is the most serious kind that means it’s spread elsewhere in the body.
Anson Mackay, who lives in east London , initially contacted his GP in January 2020 when he was left with swollen glands in his neck for weeks
But within hours of filling out an online form he was told to see the family doctor immediately and the 57-year-old was referred to an ears, nose and throat consultant
However, after two years of successful immunotherapy treatment his cancer is stable, with no current evidence of disease showing on scans.
Now, he is calling for everyone to come forwards for their ‘lifesaving’ HPV vaccine.
Cancers that affect the head and neck are the eighth most common form of cancer overall in the UK, although they are two to three times more common in men than in women.
About 12,500 new cases are diagnosed each year, according to Cancer Research UK, and incidences are on the rise.
Roughly 4,000 people are estimated to die from from the disease annually.
The umbrella term head and neck cancer refers to cancers of the mouth, voice box, nose, throat, salivary glands and sinuses.
Doctors have recently warned they are seeing throat cancer cases in ‘much younger patients’ and suggest oral sex is driving the worrying trend.
A report in October revealed hundreds more people are dying from the disease than before the Covid pandemic with almost a 50 per cent increase in cases since 2013.
The new findings add to previous research that found since the early 90s, rates of head and neck cancer have surged by more than a third in Britain — with the trend being driven partly by younger patients being diagnosed.
Tests showed the geographer and professor emeritus at University College London had cancer in his lymph nodes. Pictured, with partner David
Scans then revealed he had squamous cell carcinoma of the right tonsil — a head and neck cancer — caused by human papillomavirus ( HPV)
Smoking, alcohol and human papillomavirus (HPV) — a normally harmless virus that is spread sexually and through skin contact — are the primary causes.
Most head and neck cancers caused by HPV are in the throat, in the base of the tongue and the tonsils.
Around eight in 10 people will get HPV at some point in their life and their body will clear it without any problems, according to the NHS.
However, varieties of the virus can stay in the body for a long time. Data suggests HPV16 virus may be responsible for around 70 per cent of oropharyngeal cancers.
Mr Mackay said: ‘I first suspected something was amiss when some swollen glands in my neck did not go down after having a bit of a cold towards the end of Dec 2019.
‘After New Year, I filled in an online request form to see my doctor, not expecting an appointment for a week or so.
‘But very quickly I got a call asking me to come in and see a doctor right way.’
Within a week he was having an ultrasound of his neck and throat, and a biopsy was carried out by injecting into the swollen lymph node a fine needle to withdraw some fluid to check for any cancer cells.
Despite intensive weeks of radiotherapy treatment that saw him celebrate having ‘no evidence of disease remaining’ by August 2020, just a year later he was dealt the devastating blow after scans revealed it had spread. Pictured, during radiotherapy treatment
Following his cancer biopsy results in March 2020, as Covid restrictions began, he was told he would undergo seven weeks of chemoradiation therapy as well as 4 weekly sessions of chemotherapy.
Part of his radiation treatment was targeted at the cervical lymph nodes in his neck, as cancer had spread there from the right tonsil.
Speaking about his experience in a series of blog posts, he documented the debilitating side effects of treatment, including muscle spasms, mouth ulcers and even tactile hallucinations such as worms crawling inside the mouth.
‘At other times my saliva was, it still is, so thick I can’t even spit it out,’ he said.
‘My mouth and tongue are consistently dry, so that eating and speaking has now become a problem — which at least gets me out of Zoom calls.
‘This meant that I really couldn’t chew any food at all, and was only able to tolerate liquid food such as soup.’
Even in the weeks and months after, he was struck down by intense bouts of fatigue, weight loss and tenderness to the neck, and lower vocal range.
But in August 2020 — five months after his diagnosis — MRI scan results showed he had ‘no evidence of disease remaining’ in the body.
Speaking about his experience in a series of blog posts , he documented the debilitating side effects of treatment, including muscle spasms, mouth ulcers and even tactile hallucinations such as worms crawling inside the mouth
Routine check-ups over the following months found no change to his tissue that could suggest a return of the cancer.
Almost a year after his positive news, however, he began experiencing some breathing difficulties and ‘asthmatic hayfever’ which he put down to pollen and difficulties urinating.
In July 2021, he was referred for tests by his oncologist and by September, he was told CT scans showed there was a swelling in his chest pressing against the right lung.
Just days later in October, Mr Mackay was diagnosed with secondary stage 4 HPV cancer across both lungs, meaning it was incurable.
After two years of immunotherapy treatment, which ended in November 2023, he was again told there was no evidence of tumours in his head, neck, chest nor abdomen.
Scans since then have not identified any changes and his stage 4 cancer continues to be monitored.
Experts have repeatedly urged people to get the HPV vaccine to reduce their risk of HPV cancers.
Yet, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the UK’s HPV vaccine uptake lags shockingly behind other countries — just 56 per cent among girls and 50 per cent for boys.
Just 67.2 per cent of girls were fully vaccinated in 2021/22, down from a high of 86.7 per cent in 2013/14. Some 62.4 per cent of boys, who have been offered the jab on the NHS since 2019, were jabbed in the most recent school year, NHS data shows
Denmark, by comparison, records a rate of around 80 per cent.
‘The HPV vaccine is crucial in the fight against rising cancer cases,’ Mr Mackay told MailOnline.
30 per cent of all head and neck cancers are caused by high-risk HPV.
Experts have long suggested that confusion and stigma around the HPV vaccine have contributed to these low uptake rates.
The vaccine is often framed as just preventing cervical cancer or associated with sexual activity, alienating people, they argue.
Oracle Head and Neck Cancer UK CEO, Tamara Kahn also said: ‘In reality, the HPV vaccine is a powerful cancer prevention tool that can protect against a range of cancers — including head and neck, cervical and other anogenital HPV-related cancers.
‘We are calling on the government, NHS and partners to work with us to ensure families have the information they need to make fully informed decisions about the HPV vaccine.
‘These are choices today that will influence the health and future of the next generation.
‘Early detection also significantly improves treatment outcomes and can save lives.’
