RAF veteran 'saved' by new blood cancer treatment

A veteran Royal Air Force engineer from Derbyshire has said he "owes his life" to a new treatment that helped him recover from an aggressive form of blood cancer.

Tim Swinburn, from Codnor Park, is one of the first patients in England to receive STARGLO - a treatment from the NHS for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the most common and aggressive type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Swinburn said he was "seriously running out of options" when he was offered the therapy.

Prof Chris Fox at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust said the combination treatment involved bi-specific antibodies, used to target lymphoma in "two separate ways at once".

Swinburn, who served in the armed forces for 30 years repairing fighter jets such as the Tornado and Phantom F-4, said he first noticed early signs of his cancer in April 2025 when he started to struggle to swallow food.

"I was struggling to eat a small bowl of softened cornflakes or chicken nuggets. I was throwing my food back up afterwards," the 59-year-old said.

"When I got back home to the UK, I went to hospital and a specialist detected a lump on my lung via a CT scan."

After two biopsies, Swinburn was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer which affects the white blood cells that help fight infection.

With initial chemotherapy treatment failing to work, Swinburn was referred to Fox, a haematology expert, who spoke about his new STARGLO treatment.

Swinburn said the therapy had "saved" him, meaning he could look forward to celebrating his 60th birthday next year.

"I was running out of options with my lymphoma last year, now the treatment I am receiving from the team at City Hospital has changed that," he said.

"I feel great."

He has also been able to return to motorbiking and get back to his job as an engineering auditor for a company training RAF pilots in flying a variety of aircraft.

"I feel brilliant," he said.

"I would advise other people who also receive a similar cancer diagnosis to keep their chins up.

"New treatments are being developed and there is hope."

Rather than more conventional chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy, where cells are extracted and "re-engineered" before treatment can take place, patients can start STARGLO immediately.

NUH said the treatment combined the power of chemotherapy drugs with antibody treatment, allowing the patient's immune system to directly target and destroy the cancer cells.

Following successful trials, STARGLO was approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for use in NHS hospitals, allowing patients such as Swinburn to access the treatment.

Prof Fox, co-author of a paper in The Lancet on the STARGLO trial, said: "We are delighted that Mr Swinburn is one of the first patients who has benefited from this new lymphoma treatment regimen.

"No treatment regimen for lymphoma is ever universally effective; we need to retain our focus on developing new therapies for patients who need them."

Listen to BBC Radio Derby on Sounds and follow BBC Derby on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.