At 14, Ellie Waters-Barnes was told she had a one in five chance of survival. Now, at 25, she is celebrating graduating in medicine after cancer helped shape the career she chose.
Waters-Barnes was diagnosed with stage four alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, an aggressive soft tissue cancer, in September 2015. She said the news turned her life upside down.
“I went from being a very healthy, fit teenage girl to having this very intensive treatment that made me very ill,” Waters-Barnes said.
She underwent 18 months of treatment at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham.
“I lost lots of weight, lost my hair, I had to be tube fed,” she said.
“The first nine months was intensive chemotherapy and then I had 28 sessions of radiotherapy, and then I had a year of maintenance chemotherapy.
“I’m all clear now, thank goodness, but at the time the cancer was very aggressive. I feel very lucky to be here today.”
Among the side effects of treatment, Waters-Barnes faced the menopause at 15, along with other lifelong health issues.
“At the time [menopause] wasn’t a big deal,” Waters-Barnes said.
“At 15 I didn’t really know what it was. My mum hadn’t even been through the menopause at that point. I thought it was going to be a walk in the park.
“My oncologist didn’t really council me on what it meant and the symptoms.
“My impression was that I had no periods and that was it, but after the years that followed I was getting bad night sweats, hot flushes, itchy skin, dryness.”
She said she did not realise at the time that those effects were due to the menopause, but said they made her A-level studies harder as she worked to get the grades for medical school.
She had earlier decided to repeat Year 10 at school during treatment, although she said GCSEs became an outlet.
“I couldn’t control what was going on with cancer, but I could work hard,” she said.
“I actually quite enjoyed it, because I could forget about my problems when I was doing hard chemistry and maths questions.
“That’s why I ended up getting very good grades, because I didn’t have the energy to go out with my friends and do the things that normal young people do, my escape was studying.”
Waters-Barnes said it was not her time in hospital itself that pushed her towards medicine.
“Everyone [on the ward] was lovely but I didn’t want to go back and be surrounded by reminders,” she said.
“But when I finished treatment I couldn’t stop watching medical documentaries. I would obsessively watch them.
“I grew a passionate interest for medicine. I started researching things I went through. I think I developed a passion for helping people as well.”
She said her experience gave her a “superpower” that not every medic could tap into, and said it would help her better understand patients.
“I realised helping people in their most vulnerable state was more rewarding than earning a lot of money,” Waters-Barnes said.
“I had a lot of amazing doctors and nurses treat me when I had cancer.
“You can definitely understand better what the patient’s priorities are, what they want and what matters to them. It’s definitely a strength rather than a weakness.”
More than 10 years after her diagnosis, Waters-Barnes is still undergoing regular checks and is preparing to start as a Foundation Doctor at the Royal Stoke University Hospital. She said she hoped her experiences would make her a better doctor.
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