A NEW treatment regime for cervical cancer cuts the risk of death by 40 per cent, according to a large-scale study.

Researchers in London completed a long-term follow up of patients given a short course of chemotherapy before chemoradiation – a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

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The findings, which follow on from those first presented in October 2023, show a 40 per cent reduction in the risk of death and a 35 per cent reduction in the risk of cancer coming back within at least five years.

At the time of the initial results, Cancer Research UK (CRUK) hailed the shift as the biggest improvement in cervical cancer treatment in more than 20 years.

Chemoradiation has been the standard treatment for the condition since 1999, but despite improvements in care, cancer returns in up to 30 per cent of cases.

The Interlace phase III trial, funded by CRUK and University College London (UCL) Cancer Trials Centre, looked at whether a short course of induction chemotherapy prior to chemoradiation could cut relapses and death among patients with locally advanced cervical cancer that had not spread to other organs.

The results, published in The Lancet, are so clear that experts are calling for the regime to be used across the UK and internationally.

Dr Mary McCormack, lead investigator of the trial from UCL Cancer Institute and University College London Hospital (UCLH), said: “This approach is a straightforward way to make a positive difference, using existing drugs that are cheap and already approved for use in patients.

“It has already been adopted by some cancer centres and there’s no reason that this shouldn’t be offered to all patients undergoing chemoradiation for this cancer.”

The trial team recruited 500 patients over 10 years from hospitals in the UK, Mexico, India, Italy and Brazil.

They were randomly allocated to receive either standard treatment or the new treatment combination.

After five years, 80 per cent of those who received a short course of chemotherapy first were alive and 73 per cent had not seen their cancer return or spread.

In the standard treatment group, 72 per cent were alive and 64 per cent had not seen their cancer return or spread.

Researchers said that five patients involved in the trial have been disease-free for more than 10 years.

Professor Jonathan Ledermann, senior author of the study from UCL Cancer Institute, said: “The incremental cost for using the drugs in the Interlace trial is low, making this a new treatment that can be easily implemented in all health economies, to significantly improve overall survival.”

Dr Iain Foulkes, executive director of research and innovation at Cancer Research UK, added: “Timing is everything when you’re treating cancer.

“The simple act of adding induction chemotherapy to the start of chemoradiation treatment for cervical cancer has delivered remarkable results in the Interlace trial.

“A growing body of evidence is showing that additional chemotherapy before other treatments, like surgery and radiotherapy, can improve the chances of successful treatment for patients.

“Not only can it reduce the chances of cancer coming back, it can also be delivered quickly, using drugs already available worldwide.”

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Anyone who has a passion for sport knows that it can be a journey. The thing about falling in love with a sport, or better yet a lifestyle, is that you often end up on a journey you never expected, but absolutely needed. Putting your whole self into something and grinding day in and day out is bound to change a person and almost always for the best. 

Craig Bongelli had a passion for martial arts and boxing in his teens and knew what it meant to work hard in the gym. It wasn’t until he attended a Highland games event and met Scotland’s strongest man that his focus turned elsewhere. He wanted to be big and strong and went on a mission to become just that. Unfortunately, he suffered a back injury while deadlifting at age 21. While searching for ways to navigate this injury and prevent future injuries he discovered Louie Simmons, the owner of Westside. A book read turned into a phone call and eventually turned into an invite to Westside and ultimately a lasting mentorship.

Craig fell in love with powerlifting and Westside helped him get there. Since then, Louie has passed away and the gym has been passed on to a new and well-trusted owner taking on a new direction for training. Change can often be hard but Craig was excited to see where Westside was going. Wanting to see how the gym had changed, Craig headed back to see what he could accomplish in 4 weeks and decided to share his experience with everyone. 

Episode 1

In episode 1 of the Westside docuseries, Craig heads back to Westside to check out their new training philosophy and program. After being away for several years he wanted to see what Westide has been up to since Louie, the previous owner and his mentor, passed away and Tom took on ownership. Craig was ready to see what Westside gymgoers were up to as well as what he could accomplish by implementing their new training system and tracking specific metrics over 4 weeks. 

Episode 2

Week one was a real doozy for Craig. Episode 2 dives into Craig’s first week back and training and how it was totally soul-crushing. As a long-time athlete, he was ready for a challenge but was not expecting to be totally obliterated. You get to see what a rough start he had being back at the gym and how this challenge motivated him to get serious and persevere. 

This episode also explains more information about the specific program that Craig followed, even getting into what nutrition and recovery looked like while living and breathing the Westside lifestyle. 

Episode 3

Having knocked out two weeks, Craig started to catch some momentum and get into the groove of things which is captured in episode 3. Aside from the excitement he felt about being back at Westside again and getting ingrained into the group he also shared insight into the emotional challenges he experienced with being away from home and his family. This episode really gets into discussions about working hard and pushing yourself even when things get tough.  

Episode 4

Heading into the 4th week, and 4th episode, it was time to find out if Craig accomplished all he wanted to and what he learned about himself and fitness during the experience. It’s time to find out if his hard work paid off by diving into his end results. The docuseries is rounded out with discussions between Craig and Tom about the experience and the gym. 

Where It’s Going

With this docuseries, Craig hopes to expose athletes from all backgrounds to what he believes to be the best training system in the world. He wants to show people that if you truly give something your all you can accomplish more than you ever expected of yourself, especially when applying the right methodologies. He hopes that by sharing where he started with Louie and Westside and where he believes it can take others today, he will pay back even just a small portion of the debt he feels he owes to them. 

If you have been looking for something to light a fire inside of you and get you motivated to pursue your goals then you won’t want to miss out on the story Craig tells throughout this docuseries. If you weren’t excited about transforming your life through fitness before watching this then there is a good chance that you will be after.

A MODEL with a rare brain condition says she fears never seeing her two kids grow up — as she tries to raise £26,000 for pioneering surgery abroad.

Deana Hendry, 32, needs specialist treatment after being told there was nothing the NHS could do to permanently fix a malformation, which makes the back of her brain sag through the base of the skull.

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Deana, diagnosed in 2021 after suffering symptoms for ten years, said: “Nobody knew what was causing it but I had chronic head and neck pains.

“When it got really bad and I went to the hospital, at first they thought I’d had a stroke.

“Then I got a phone call telling me I had an incurable brain condition.”

The model, of Banbury, Oxon, was diagnosed with Arnold-Chiari malformation, which affects roughly one in 2,000.

Most have no symptoms and never even realise they have it.

There are four main types, but type 1, called Chiari I, is the most common and occurs when the lowest part of the back of the brain extends into the spinal canal.

Many cases are triggered by part of the skull not being large enough to contain the brain.

The condition is normally treated in the UK with decompression surgery, where a chunk is taken from the back of the skull to allow the brain to expand away from the spinal cord.

If left untreated it can cause early-onset dementia or put too much pressure on the spinal cord, causing disability.

 Deana, mum to Bartholemew, four, and Isabella, two, said: “The fear of leaving them to look after me, and the fear of leaving them without me, is what’s making me find a way to get through it.”

She is hoping to fund trial surgery in Barcelona, Spain, to permanently stop the malformation growing.

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A DECADE ago the menopause was rarely spoken about, certainly not in public.

Despite the fact it affects every woman, “the change” was considered taboo and frequently suffered in silence.

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Now menopause is discussed everywhere; in podcasts, documentaries, and social media, and targeted with a growing market of products including supplements and herbal remedies to help ease its symptoms.

Increased awareness – fuelled by The Sun’s Fabulous Menopause Matters campaign – has been a life-saver. But with more information available than ever, it can be difficult to know where to find accurate advice.

If you want to know the symptoms of perimenopause – the lead-up to your final period – or whether you should be avoiding certain foods or using hormone therapy, Sun Health is here to help cut through the noise.

Dr Philippa Kaye – GP and author of the new book The Science Of Menopause – answers the most common questions on the subject and BBC presenter Gabby Logan shares her own experience of it.

Gabby Logan says HRT reignited her libido after becoming so disinterested in sex with her husband she worried it would “become a duty’.

The Welsh presenter, 51, first realised she was perimenopausal at the age of 47, but didn’t recognise it as such.

Rather, Gabby says she just felt like a “lesser version of herself”.

I couldn’t think that it had anything to do with the menopause. I was only in my mid-40s

And while the mum of two credits HRT with bringing her back, she has also taken up cold swimming among other lifestyle hacks to feel good again.

Gabby, who is married to ex-Scottish international rugby Kenny Logan, tells Sun Health: “I was feeling like a lesser version of my usual self. I didn’t know what was wrong with me.

“I’ve always been into health and fitness, and I started being extra careful about what I ate and I was training more — things that normally made me feel really good — but were now having no effect.

Out of control

“I couldn’t think that it had anything to do with the menopause. I was only in my mid-40s.”

But it was only when Gabby invited broadcaster Mariella Frostrup on her podcast, The Mid Point, in 2020 that everything clicked at last.

Gabby, who has 19-year-old twins Lois and Reuben with Kenny, says: “She was talking about her menopause, describing the symptoms — anxiety, im­patience, shouting at family and friends, losing your temper over silly things, feeling a bit out of control and not on top of stuff, feeling tired a lot of the time with low energy levels and having brain fog.

“I thought, ‘Hello? This sounds very familiar’.

“My libido was definitely affected by the menopause and perimenopause. I found I didn’t want to have sex with my husband as much, and it felt like something I was going to have to do even if I didn’t really want to.

“It was almost like, ‘Is this going to become a duty?’ So many women say this and I didn’t want to become one of them.

“I wanted to keep enjoying having sex. When I understood that I could get my former sex drive back, it was an enormous relief.” Gabby saw a doctor who prescribed HRT after tests revealed her hormones were “on the floor” and she likely only had a couple of periods left.

“I was surprised to hear this but not particularly emotional about it. I just wanted to feel like me again,” Gabby says.

My libido came back within about a week and our sex life was back on track — even to the extent of having daytime sex. Our kids will kill me if I say any more!

“I’d had a very healthy relationship with Kenny. I loved him and fancied him, and hadn’t been able to understand why I no longer wanted to have sex as much as I had before.

“My libido came back within about a week and our sex life was back on track — even to the extent of having daytime sex. Our kids will kill me if I say any more!”

The couple faced more challenges when Kenny was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2022, requiring surgery.

And while Gabby admits she has felt “bereft” transitioning to an “empty nest”, she focuses on hobbies to fill the void.

She says: “I regularly go cold-water swimming.

“It’s something I kind of fell into by accident.”

It’s one of several habits that relieve her menopause symptoms.

She says: “The menopause affects our physical and mental wellbeing, things like heart health and the threat of osteoporosis. Exercise can help guard against both, particularly weight training for osteoporosis.

“Simple walking and cycling are great things to do.

“What helps me is being as holistic as I can.

“I make sure I take all the right vitamins and minerals for a woman of my age.

“It’s also a good idea to read up on the menopause before it actually happens so that it doesn’t overwhelm you.

“There’s nothing like prepping before midlife actually hits.”

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