Diagnosed with endometrial cancer in February 2025, Jo is now in much better health – we look back on her year and the ‘amazing’ team at The Royal Marsden who helped her through treatment.
Over Christmas and the New Year, it’s a natural time for us to pause and reflect on the past year. For Jo, a patient at The Royal Marsden, 2025 has been eventful. From getting a cancer diagnosis, going ahead with her wedding plans a day after treatment, and now feeling stronger after radiotherapy. Here, we highlight one remarkable patient’s story and the radiotherapy treatment that has given her more time, thanks to support from The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
In February 2025, knowing something was wrong, 56-year-old Joanna went for a checkup with her private gynaecologist. She then went on the two-week cancer pathway with her NHS GP, getting an internal ultrasound and hysteroscopy (a test to look inside a woman’s womb). The results showed that she had endometrial cancer.
“Although I’d been having some worrying symptoms, getting a cancer diagnosis was so unexpected – I am such a healthy person, I eat well and keep active – I’ve been a runner all my life. It just goes to show that cancer can hit anyone at any time – it doesn’t discriminate. I was in absolute bits; I was due to get married five months later.
“My father, who is now 88 years old, was an NHS doctor and went through a cancer diagnosis – he was also treated by The Royal Marsden. He had two different types of cancer, and both times was looked after by an amazing team.”
State-of-the-art radiotherapy at The Royal Marsden
Jo was then referred to The Royal Marsden under the care of Mr John Butler. She then had a radical hysterectomy; the results from surgery came back as stage 2, high grade endometrial cancer. Jo wanted to avoid chemotherapy, so under the care of Dr Susan Lalondrelle, her team started her on radiotherapy on the Accuray Radixact linear accelerator, or Radixact linac.
This machine offers improved image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT)and online adaptive therapy. IGRT is a type of radiotherapy where imaging is used to ensure the patient is positioned correctly and the tumour is being targeted as precisely as possible, adaptive means a new treatment can be created each day to adjust for changes in anatomy. Discover more about the Radixact linac in one of our blogs.
“I had regular radiotherapy on the older machine first and then the team introduced me to the newer Linac where the treatment was much more targeted. They told me I was only the third person – in the world – to benefit from this new machine. I keep thinking that in five or ten years’ time, my patient data from being treated on this machine might be contributing towards helping others who are going through the same experience – this is so humbling.
“I felt massively appreciative to have the rest of my treatment on such state-of-the-art equipment. My radiographer, Shabs, and doctor, Ben, were particularly insightful and the whole team created such a supportive environment. They were all so kind and there was never a time where I didn’t know what was happening.
“Treatment felt like such a breeze - I was still able to work full time, be a mum, walk my dog! I would say I only had about 10% of what the side effects of radiotherapy can be – it wasn’t a problem at all.”
Wedding bells after Jo’s treatment
Despite a challenging start to the year with Jo’s diagnosis and treatment, she didn’t let it stop her from going ahead with her wedding plans.
“The day after my last treatment session, we travelled up to Scotland and I got married a week later on 13th June 2025!
“When you go into cancer treatment, you have no idea how you’ll feel after surgery or after radiotherapy – treatment can feel so scary at first and your experience can be brutal. I feel lucky that I felt so well for my wedding day – having only just got my diagnosis five months before this.
“I also worked full time throughout all my treatment – clients had no idea what I was going through behind the scenes. I used to bring my assistant with me to treatment at the hospital! Being able to carry on working meant I was keeping busy the whole time and had less time to think about my diagnosis and treatment.”
Gratitude to The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity
“I’m a positive person and have said to Dr Lalondrelle that I want to focus on how well my treatment has gone and not get caught up in thinking the cancer could come back.
“It’s a bit too early to tell how all the treatment has gone but I’m back at the hospital every three months now for tests and monitoring. I’ve got my first set of scans post treatment in January.”
Jo is grateful to The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, who funded the radiotherapy equipment she used, thanks to generous gifts in Wills:
“I’m in awe of all the fundraising the Charity does. I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who donates – it makes a massive difference when you’re going through this experience, to know that you’re getting the most targeted treatment on the best equipment.”
Support life-saving research
The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity is the largest charitable funder of research at The Royal Marsden. By supporting us with a gift in your Will, you can help to fund research to develop new, world-leading treatments for people like Jo, now and into the future.
Find out more about including a gift in your Will. Or, discover more ways to support us.