‘With the terrible statistic that cancer will affect one in four of us in the UK, it’s unsurprising that TV documentary-makers are investigating the subject constantly. However, Cutting Edge: Curing Cancer (Channel 4) proved to offer something very different, focusing on four patients trialling new techniques to combat the disease.
Rightly, the fascinating scientific breakthroughs were allowed to dominate. Most remarkable was Debra Cox, whose lung tumours were tackled using microwaves. I watched in disbelief as a needle penetrated her lungs to reach the tumours – as she lay in the operating theatre, awake and breathing normally. Searching for an analogy to sum up the obvious skill involved, her surgeon, Dr Rowland Illing, eventually said: “It’s like trying to put a knitting needle through a marble”.’
