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the immunotherapy had worked and she remains clear

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-31365272

Fortunately, by then the immunotherapy had worked and she remains clear of cancer after more than a year.

Vicky said: "I can really get on with my life and put this in the back of my mind."

Her consultant at the Royal Marsden, Dr James Larkin, is hopeful that immunotherapy may even be able to deal with the problem of resistance.

He told me: "With immunotherapy, you've reprogrammed the system so inside the patient you have an immune system that can recognise tumour cells.

"If a bit of the tumour does become resistant, the experience to date certainly seems to be that the immune system can still deal with that."

Several immunotherapy drugs are undergoing trials for other cancers, such as lung and kidney, and early results look promising.

Like all new cancer treatments, they are expensive - just one of the drugs Vicky was given costs £75,000 per patient, although the NHS has negotiated a confidential discounted price.

So while these new weapons offer the hope of keeping cancer at bay for longer, they present hard choices for health spending.