Rock star hopes therapy will end 30 years of cancer

A Welsh rock star says he hopes a highly specialised therapy which "re-programmes" his immune cells will lead to a "cancer free life".

Mike Peters, frontman of The Alarm, has lived with leukaemia for 30 years and had been in remission after taking part in a clinical trial last September.

But, in October, the 65-year-old from Dyserth, Denbighshire, became ill when his Richter syndrome - an aggressive form of lymphoma - returned.

He said it would have killed him within two months if left untreated, adding music had kept him alive since his latest diagnosis.

Peters has played some big venues over his long career, but this time his tour bus dropped him and his wife Jules off outside The Christie hospital in Manchester - one of the world's leading cancer centres - for a 40-day residency.

He will shortly undergo Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy (CART).

As well as the skills of the medical team, Peters will play a key part in his treatment as his own immune cells have been tweaked to recognise the cancer.

He said: "My white lymphocytes were harvested in December. Those were then sent to a laboratory where each blood cell was re-engineered by scientists and then targeted to seek and destroy the Richter's syndrome."

He will remain in an isolation ward for 40 days while his immune system is rebooted - hopefully emerging free from disease.

Prof Adrian Bloor is a consultant haematologist at The Christie, and will be overseeing Peters's treatment.

He said CART "revs up" the immune system, which can be punishing, "but if you can ride the storm for a couple of weeks what we hope is that the immune system settles down but the CART cells stay around where they can continue to fight the cancer and stop it coming back again".

The Alarm has sold more than five million albums and had 16 UK Top 50 singles.

Peters learned his cancer had returned in its most aggressive form yet just as he was about to embark on a 50-date tour.

"It was devastating because it all happened in an instant," he said.

"There was no chance to even think about it."

He added: "Untreated I probably had two months to live and to then have to think about stopping the tour, communicating all that to the fans, trying to hold the family together while we are dealing with this devastation, it was intense."

He was able to perform a few small-scale shows without his band, as a support act for Status Quo and Big Country.

That kept me going - something to focus on that wasn't cancer related," he said.

Jules Peters said they had been through a lot as a couple, including her own breast cancer diagnosis in 2016, but "nothing like this".

She added: "I honestly felt like it was game over for both of us. I struggled very hard to pull myself together.

"When the absolute fear washes over me I'll just have a little cry, go out for a quick run to try and reset myself and then get ready to go again because sitting around moping and feeling sorry for myself just doesn't get me anywhere."

She said the CART therapy would "transform" her husband, affecting his body and even, potentially, his personality.

He will be monitored regularly during the treatment to check he can still carry out basic functions.

"I'll be there when he is writing his name and counting to ten. I haven't allowed myself to think what life may be like if we can get through this," she said.

If the treatment does not work, Peters might still need a stem cell transplant and he is urging people to sign up to become stem cell donors, to help others like him.

His focus on music during the past few months has led to the birth of a new album, due for release soon, which will feature his youngest son, Evan, on drums.

"Music is like a complementary therapy. It can only reinforce the chemotherapy, reinforce the power of the CART and allow me to get through to the other side and new life."