An ultramarathoning academic has told how he dismissed the signs of his cancer as the lingering effects of a cold.
Anson Mackay, who lives in east London, initially contacted his GP in January 2020 when swollen glands in his neck persisted for weeks.
But within hours of completing an online form, he was told to go to the GP immediately and the 57-year-old was referred to an ear, nose and throat consultant.
Tests showed that the geographer and emeritus professor at University College London had cancer in his lymph nodes.
Scans subsequently revealed that he had squamous cell carcinoma of the right tonsil – a form of throat cancer – caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV).
HPV, a virus that attacks the skin and cells lining the body, is the most common sexually transmitted disease (STD) worldwide, but can also be spread through skin-to-skin contact.
Despite intensive weeks of radiotherapy treatment during which he celebrated that there was ‘no evidence the disease was left’ in August 2020, he suffered the devastating blow just a year later after scans showed the disease had spread.
When diagnosed with stage 4 HPV cancer in both lungs, it is the most severe form, meaning the disease spreads 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 completing an online form, he was told to go to the GP immediately and the 57-year-old was referred to an ear, nose and throat consultant.
However, after two years of successful immunotherapy treatment, his cancer is stable and no signs of disease are currently visible on scans.
Now he is calling on everyone to come forward for their ‘life-saving’ HPV vaccine.
Cancers affecting the head and neck are the eighth most common cancer in Britain, although they are two to three times more common in men than women.
According to Cancer Research UK, around 12,500 new cases are diagnosed each year, and the number of cases is increasing.
It is estimated that approximately 4,000 people die from the disease every year.
The umbrella term head and neck cancer refers to cancers of the mouth, larynx, nose, throat, salivary glands and sinuses.
Doctors have recently warned that they are seeing cases of throat cancer in ‘much younger patients’ and suggest oral sex is driving the worrying trend.
An October report found that hundreds more people are dying from the disease than before the Covid pandemic, with a nearly 50 percent increase in cases since 2013.
Tests showed that the geographer and emeritus professor at University College London had cancer in his lymph nodes. In the photo, with partner David
Scans subsequently revealed he had squamous cell carcinoma of the right tonsil – a head and neck cancer – caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV).
The new findings add to previous research which found that since the early 1990s, the number of cases of head and neck cancer in Britain has risen by more than a third – with this trend partly driven by younger patients being diagnosed .
Smoking, alcohol and the human papillomavirus (HPV) – a normally harmless virus spread sexually and through skin contact – are the main causes.
Most head and neck cancers caused by HPV are located in the throat, at the base of the tongue and tonsils.
Around eight in 10 people will get HPV at some point in their lives and their bodies will clear it up without any problems, according to the NHS.
However, variants of the virus can remain in the body for a long time. Data shows that the HPV16 virus may be responsible for approximately 70 percent of oropharyngeal cancers.
Mr Mackay said: ‘I initially suspected something was wrong when some swollen glands in my neck wouldn’t go down after I had a bit of a cold in late December 2019.
‘After New Year, I filled out an online application to see my doctor, not expecting an appointment in about a week.
‘But I soon got a call asking if I should come to the doctor straight away.’
Despite intensive weeks of radiotherapy treatment during which he celebrated that there was ‘no evidence the disease was left’ in August 2020, he suffered the devastating blow just a year later after scans showed the disease had spread. In the photo, during radiotherapy treatment
Within a week he had an ultrasound scan of his neck and throat, and a biopsy was performed by injecting a fine needle into the swollen lymph node to withdraw some fluid to check for any cancer cells.
Following the results of his cancer biopsy in March 2020, when Covid restrictions began, he was told he would undergo seven weeks of chemoradiation therapy, as well as four weekly chemotherapy sessions.
Some of his radiation was focused on the cervical lymph nodes in his neck, because the cancer had spread there from the right tonsil.
Talking about his experience in a series of blog postshe documented the treatment’s debilitating side effects, including muscle spasms, mouth ulcers, and even tactile hallucinations such as worms crawling in the mouth.
“Other times my saliva was so thick, and still is, that I couldn’t even spit it out,” he said.
‘My mouth and tongue are constantly dry so eating and speaking have now become a problem – which at least takes me out of Zoom calls.
‘This meant I could essentially no longer chew at all and could only tolerate liquid foods such as soup.’
Even in the weeks and months that followed, he was struck by intense bouts of fatigue, weight loss, and neck tenderness and reduced vocal range.
In a series of blog posts, he spoke about his experiences and documented the debilitating side effects of the treatment, including muscle spasms, mouth ulcers and even tactile hallucinations such as worms crawling in the mouth.
But in August 2020 – five months after his diagnosis – MRI scan results showed he had ‘no evidence of disease remaining’ in the body.
Routine checks in the following months found no change in his tissue that could indicate a return of the cancer.
However, almost a year after his positive news, he began experiencing breathing difficulties and “asthmatic hay fever,” which he attributed to pollen and difficulty urinating.
In July 2021 he was referred for tests by his oncologist and in September he was told that CT scans showed there was swelling in his chest pressing against the right lung.
Just days later, in October, Mr Mackay was diagnosed with stage 4 HPV cancer in both lungs, meaning the disease was incurable.
After two years of immunotherapy treatment, which ended in November 2023, he was again told there was no evidence of tumors in his head, neck, chest or abdomen.
Scans have shown no changes since then 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 cancer.
Only 67.2 percent of girls were fully vaccinated in 2021/2022, compared to a record 86.7 percent in 2013/2014. Around 62.4 per cent of boys who have received the jab from the NHS since 2019 received a jab in the most recent school year, NHS data shows
Yet, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), uptake of the HPV vaccine in Britain lags alarmingly behind other countries: just 56 percent among girls and 50 percent among boys.
By comparison, Denmark records a rate of about 80 percent.
‘The HPV vaccine is crucial in the fight against rising cancer cases,’ Mackay told MailOnline.
’30 percent of all head and neck cancers are caused by high-risk HPV.’
In Great Britain, the jab has been offered to all girls in school year 8 since September 2008. But from September 2019, access was only extended to boys in year 8.
Experts have long suggested that confusion and stigma surrounding the HPV vaccine have contributed to these low uptake rates.
The vaccine is often framed as merely preventing cervical cancer or being associated with sexual activity, alienating people, they claim.
Tamara Kahn, CEO of Oracle Head and Neck Cancer UK, 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 cancer, cervical cancer 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 today’s choices that will affect the health and future of the next generation.
‘Early detection also significantly improves treatment outcomes and can save lives.’