The Happy Pod: Kinder medicine for millions of cancer patients
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 8.3K Ratings
🗓️ 6 June 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A new DNA test can distinguish between patients who are likely to benefit from chemotherapy and those who are not, meaning many with the most common form of breast cancer can avoid the brutal treatment. Also, scientists have found a daily pill that could double the survival time for people with advanced pancreatic cancer. Daraxonrasib appears to be a breakthrough in managing a disease that has the highest mortality rate of all major cancers. Plus, we hear from Sterling Nasa, the student who ended up on stage during a concert performance of La La Land. A pianist was taken ill half way through the show, and the conductor appealed to the audience for help. A British man is hoping to become the first person with a physical disability to go to live and work in space. John McFall lost his leg when he was 19 -- but he hasn't let that stop him -- he has already become a paralympian and a surgeon. Finally, we meet Dr Shaunna Burke who has reached the summit of Mount Everest despite living with stage 4 incurable cancer. She becomes the first woman to do so Our weekly collection of inspiring, uplifting and happy news from around the world.
Presenter: Holly Gibbs. Music composed by Iona Hampson
(Picture: A doctor examining a mammogram to determine if a woman has breast cancer. Credit: PA)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | This is the Happy Pod from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:15.0 | I'm Holly Gibbs, and in this edition, |
| 0:18.0 | two major medical breakthroughs for cancer patients. First, I just said, |
| 0:23.5 | does that mean no chemo? She said, yes, no chemo. And I almost leapt for joy. If there'd been a |
| 0:29.9 | bottle of champagne there, I would have opened it. That's how wonderful it was. It was one of the |
| 0:34.4 | best feelings. The new DNA test, which could spare millions of people with breast cancer from having chemotherapy, |
| 0:42.1 | and the drug which doubles the survival time for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. |
| 0:47.4 | For us to be able to see a median overall survival of 13.2 months, which is double that that we get with chemotherapy. It's unprecedented |
| 0:56.3 | in the world of pancreatic cancer. Also on this podcast, is there a pianist in the house? |
| 1:02.0 | I got into it, embraced it and just thought, look, you're on stage. It's an hour of music. |
| 1:06.3 | These are world-class musicians and a two-time Academy Award-winning conductor. Just enjoy it. Try your best. |
| 1:12.1 | And I think it went pretty well. Find out how this audience member ended up on stage. |
| 1:17.7 | Plus, the man trying to become Europe's first physically disabled astronaut to go into orbit. |
| 1:23.3 | The dream is to flight space. I would love that opportunity. I'm in a position where I am |
| 1:28.9 | assignable to a mission, should a mission become available. And we hear about slow food, the opposite |
| 1:34.8 | of fast food. We start with a breakthrough that is expected to save millions of people with breast cancer |
| 1:45.0 | from having to go through chemotherapy. The new DNA test can distinguish between patients who are likely to benefit from the treatment and those who are not, |
| 1:53.0 | meaning those who receive a low score can avoid chemotherapy and be treated in other ways. |
| 1:59.0 | The study followed more than 4,000 women over the age of 40 in |
| 2:02.7 | six countries with the most common form of the disease. It found two-thirds could safely skip |
| 2:08.2 | chemotherapy with no change to their outcomes. Aileen Pritchard was one of them. I know exactly where |
... |
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