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Our first post-pandemic face-to-face meeting of the Papillon patients’ support group took place on the 26th of October this year. We were all excited to meet in person after a long spell of nearly three years not seeing each other. Covid lockdown restrictions had prevented us from holding the annual meetings that we had been organising since 2008.

It was nice to see all the old and also new friends who came along, some from as far away as the Netherlands. The weather was kind to us that evening and those who came will have enjoyed the welcome drinks, tea, and biscuits at five, followed by a talk on Papillon progress by Prof Sun Myint.

Then came presentations by three patients, including one from the Netherlands. All shared the emotions of their journeys in getting Papillon treatment after refusing the alternative of surgery and a stoma, regarded as the standard of care with the better chance of curing their rectal cancer. All three stated that the latter had not been their only goal, and that they had been prepared to accept a less certain outcome by taking the path less travelled to maintain their quality of life.

Dr Raj Sripadam discussed his experience of having been transformed from Papillon sceptic to believer after seeing the remarkable results while working with Prof Sun Myint. He is now part of the Papillon team at Clatterbridge, which offers this treatment to patients from all over the UK.

The final presentation, by retired Cardiff University Senior Lecturer Ron Johntson, explained the Papillon Patient Support website, which he had upgraded and modernised to make more informative and user-friendly. Unfortunately, he had to overcome some technical challenges of his own on the evening, due to a power cut disrupting the Internet connection - at which point able bodies in the audience rose to the occasion to display their own skills.

                                                  All went well in the end.            click for pics

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