Michaela Riley, a 34-year-old teacher from Lewisham, south London, discovered that her persistent cough after contracting Covid in February 2021 was stage three thymoma cancer, a rare cancer of the thymus gland. Following treatment at Guy's Hospital, she is now five years cancer-free.
Cough That Wouldn't Clear
Riley, a mother of two, said her cough simply would not clear up after her illness, and she was still experiencing symptoms 19 days later. She was preparing to return to work after teaching from home, but due to severe pain, her mother urged her to go to A&E.
After a series of scans, she received the news that she had stage three thymoma cancer. Riley said: "I'd had Covid, but there was this lingering cough that wasn't going. Every time I laid on my back I felt like I was drowning. Like my lung was filling up with water."
Diagnosis and Treatment
Following an x-ray, ECG, CT scan, MRI, biopsy and PET scan, Riley was informed she had a 6.4cm thymoma. Approximately 380 people are diagnosed with thymus gland cancer in the UK each year, the majority of whom have thymomas, according to Guy's Hospital.
Riley's son, now 13, was just eight years old at the time. She said: "It really hit me when I got home after numerous investigative appointments at the hospital. I'd just had a PET scan, they suggest that you're not to be around children for a while after. My son had just come from school. He came through the door excitedly and ran towards me. My mum screamed out, 'No! You can't hug mummy yet'. For the first time I realised there may be a point where my son would never hug me again."
Once the diagnosis was confirmed, Riley requested a referral to Guy's, having previously received treatment there for meningitis at age 11. Given her age at diagnosis, she was offered egg freezing treatment at Guy's Assisted Conception Unit before beginning cancer treatment. She underwent 21 rounds of chemotherapy to reduce the tumour before a complex five-hour surgical procedure.
Surgery and Recovery
Riley added: "Chemo is very tough. You walk in there ready to go and you are absolutely fine, but once treatment starts to take affect you can barely walk out. My rounds were eight hours long, so I was often the first in and the last out. I was a baby by the end of it. My dad would always come upstairs, pick me up and carry me to the car. You go from being fiercely independent to needing your parents, or whoever is there, to care for you. I needed someone to parent me and parent my child. Mentally that was a struggle."
In September 2021, consultant thoracic surgeon Professor Andrea Bille headed the specialist surgical team who performed the operation on Riley at Guy's. The procedure is intricate due to the proximity of the thymus gland to vital organs, including the heart and major blood vessels. Professor Bille opened Riley's chest to extract the thymoma and a portion of the thyroid.
The cancer was in the superior vena cava, a major vein that transports deoxygenated blood from the upper body to the heart. It was vital to reconstruct the vein and part of the pericardium, the protective membrane encasing the heart.
Professor Bille said: "On average a thoracic surgeon may encounter a case like this once a year or even less. Despite being quite rare, here at Guy's, we do probably one a month, because we set up this service. Michaela has made a full recovery and now she's five years cancer free. If you can perform these surgeries as safe as you can, you can offer these young patients the best outcomes possible. She can have a normal life, have a family and babies and enjoy her life."
Life After Cancer
Riley undergoes an annual check-up and scans, and following her treatment she has had a daughter, now nearly two, without requiring fertility treatment. This year marks a decade since the Cancer Centre at Guy's welcomed its first patients, and Riley is championing the centre in recognition of the care she received.
She added: "From beginning to end there was no stone unturned. Every time we spoke to somebody it felt like it was very personal. Like they really cared. Life has looked up ever since. Having cancer and surviving it has given me the chance to start again."
