Helen Keough was used to finding her own path through life, so when it came to a diagnosis of cancer, she quickly learnt to navigate the territory.

Helen Keough was in the midst of a high pressure career in marketing and customer experience, so deeply immersed in fact that she neglected to attend to a persistent ulcer on her tongue until she was eventually diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. While in may ways stopped her dead in her tracks by this experience, Helen nonetheless managed to harness her acquired business skills and repurpose them towards her recovery, quickly gaining the ability to analyse scientific papers and so do her own research. She made extensive use of AI to support but not supplant her research, but also went followed her deep gut instinct when it came to one key decision. But at every step of the way she asked questions, often of several consultants, and displayed all the hallmarks of what are often described by some oncologists as ‘difficult patients’ – patients who have been shown by research to have consistently better outcomes!