Luke Cowan, now 32, from Cardiff, was given a 30% chance of survival after being diagnosed with stage 4 anaplastic T-cell lymphoma at 26. He is now in remission and says he feels “super grateful” and is the “fittest” he has “ever been”.
Cowan, who works in tech, first noticed a “dull ache” in the lymph node of his upper inner right thigh in about June 2020, but assumed it was a sign of a cold. Within weeks, his legs swelled and got “progressively worse”, to the point where he was “limping around”. He went to A&E in July and was sent home with pain medication.
By mid-August, his temperature spiked and he was admitted to hospital, where the lymph node on his thigh was removed for a biopsy. It was revealed he had cancer, news he said “hit really hard”, but doctors were not sure what specific type. His condition was stabilised and he was discharged while more investigations took place, but he collapsed at home at the end of September and was taken to an intensive care unit with life-threatening organ failure.
Diagnosis and treatment
With no recollection of his time in hospital until October 6, Cowan said doctors were able to confirm his stage 4 anaplastic T-cell lymphoma diagnosis and he was “taken aback” to hear he had a 30% chance of survival. By that point, he had gone from 15 stone to nine and “didn’t even recognise” himself.
He had eight rounds of chemotherapy, and was told in May 2021 that he was in remission. Cowan told PA Real Life: “I remember I was walking through town and I got a phone call from my consultant. She said she just wanted to tell me that my Pet scan results came back and I was in remission.”
“There were so many emotions flowing through me and I didn’t know what to say… It was just a massive relief. I don’t think there’s another moment that tops that for me, emotionally. Especially after such a long journey.”
Road to recovery
Before his diagnosis, Cowan’s health and fitness were “in a really good place”, with regular high-intensity interval training and running. He initially dismissed the leg pain, but it became so severe that he had to leave work mid-shift because he “could not walk around”.
After his temperature spiked in mid-August and his lymph node was biopsied, Cowan recalled being told he likely had cancer. “For some reason, I was just completely naive to it all and thought it would be easily fixable,” he said. “So that’s where it hit really hard and I started to think it was quite serious.”
At the end of September, he passed out in his bathroom and woke up wondering, “Why am I on the floor right now?” He was admitted to hospital and has no recollection of intensive care until October 6, when his mother relayed a conversation he had with a doctor. She told him his odds when he went into intensive care “were not very high” and there was a “70% chance that (cancer) was going to take” him. “So that was quite stark,” Cowan said. “I was taken aback… The cancer was taking everything from my body.”
Fitness comeback
Cowan had to build up his strength, including learning to walk again, with support from Teenage Cancer Trust, before starting chemotherapy at the end of October. He had a permanent line fitted and received eight rounds of chemo, causing fatigue, nausea, and vomiting. “Chemo was very hard,” he said. “There was one point during chemo where my Picc line got infected… and I actually got shingles as well.”
After a Pet scan on May 10, 2021, he found out four days later that he was in “complete remission”. By September, he was back in the gym and took up running in 2023, signing up for a Cancer Research UK Race for Life event.
He has since completed two Cardiff half marathons, the Birmingham Half, and will take on the Shoreditch Half in September. Despite shin splints and a stress fracture in 2024, he “locked in” on running from December 2024 and now “fully understands” how to fuel his body. He prioritises recovery with foam rollers, massage guns, saunas and ice baths. “I’ve been trying so hard to make sure my body is in the best place possible. I’m probably the fittest I’ve ever been,” he said.
Cowan hopes to work up to full marathons, ironman challenges and ultramarathons, but for now is trying to beat his personal best half marathon time of one hour and 48 minutes. Reflecting on his 30% survival odds, he said: “Whatever struggles you’re going through in life, (I want people to know) there can be light at the end of the tunnel.” He added: “There were so many times during chemo where I didn’t feel it was ever going to end and I wondered if I’d ever actually go into remission. But I can tell you there are good things on the other side.”
