BBC Breakfast shares emotional news as guest opens up on 'aggressive' cancer diagnosis

A BBC Breakfast guest who has battled a "really aggressive" cancer has shared his hope for the future after receiving a breakthrough treatment.

Oscar Murphy, 28, was given a treatment called CAR-T therapy, which trains the patient's own immune system to attack cancer cells. He was the first person to receive the pioneering type of cancer treatment on the NHS, after his blood cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, returned despite extensive treatment.

Appearing on the BBC programme on Wednesday (January 14), he shared: "The leukaemia that I've got is so fast acting, it needs an even quicker response to stop it, and we've now got an answer for that." He told hosts Sally Nugent and Jon Kay, who recently shared some changes to the show: "I mean, it was such a quick transition because I went from basically being in remission to it coming back to this new experimental treatment in the space of about a month for me. So it was, it went from I was fine to not fine to here's something that's going to change your life.

"And it did sort of blow, blow all of my mind, all of our minds, should I say so, my supportive network that I have. It was, yeah, it was, it was brilliant."

He said the treatment was "very sci-fi" but that "it could mean that it gets rid of it permanently and my own cells can do it".

His doctor, Eleni Tholouli, told BBC Breakfast: "Usually this type of leukemia is very aggressive and in that kind of setting patients don't live beyond six to eight months. With this therapy, we can offer them years and potentially a cure, so it's naturally very significant. I mean, this is, of course, revolutionising the way we tackle this cancer."

The consultant haematologist continued: "Oscar's cancer was really aggressive when it came back. So it was pretty tough. And things had to go really quickly.

"You don't have time to think about it. And probably it was a bit much for Oscar. You know, very, very fast as everything was moving before you realise when you're poorly, when the cancer has actually come back, and then you need to move to the next step. You don't have time to think about it."

"I think it is definitely a big breakthrough, definitely also for us in the UK," she added.

Appearing on the programme via video link from Manchester Royal Infirmary, Oscar shared that he felt "fine" after receiving the treatment.

He got married in hospital last month and said he is now planning plan for the future with his wife Lauren.

"I want children, I want the white picket fence with my amazing wife and I just want that normality," he said. "I want to go back to my job that I love and just be back normal."

"This is my gateway to doing it and I can't wait," he added.

For more information and support, visit https://www.macmillan.org.uk/.

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BBC Breakfast airs on BBC One from 6am.