How Sciensus Treatment and Paxman Scalp Cooling Boosted a Patients Mental Health

For cancer patients, hair loss during chemotherapy treatment can be a strain on their mental health. The Paxman Scalp Cooling System works by reducing the temperature of the scalp by a few degrees before, during, and after chemotherapy treatment with the aim of reducing hair loss. For Michelle McCrory, it sounded perfect, but with one problem – it wasn’t available to her as a resident of Northern Island. Michelle, however, was not going to take no for an answer and thanks to her tenacity, Sciensus is now the first and only provider of scalp cooling in Northern Ireland.

The initial news

In May 2020, with stringent Covid-19 restrictions still in place throughout Northern Ireland, Michelle McCrory felt a sensation on her left breast.

“I’d had mammograms a few years before with something similar but nothing was found. However, I still wanted to check with my GP who sent me on to Craigavon Hospital for more tests. I thought I’d just be skipping in then skipping out like the last time, but once I went into the ultrasound I knew something was different. By the time the day was over, I’d received a breast cancer diagnosis.

I was shocked, scared and distraught. My mind turned to my five children and how they would cope. I was going to have to undergo surgery, and due to Covid-19 limitations we didn’t know what was available or how long it would take. Fortunately, I had private health insurance which meant the process could be accelerated and thanks to my consultant Professor Kirk,

Unfortunately, surgery wasn’t enough and I needed to undergo a round of chemotherapy too. I hadn’t told many people about my diagnosis as a way to protect my children. I didn’t want them to be treated differently, and wanted them to always see me as their mummy. So when my oncology doctor told me I would lose all my hair I was worried what the effects on them may be.

Thanks to my healthcare insurance, I could have my six cycles of treatment at home. I lost my hair within two weeks, but didn’t want to go into details of what was happening to my young children, the oldest being just eight at the time. We did receive a lot of support from friends and family and also the healthcare team from Sciensus. Once my hair started to grow back, so did my confidence and identity.

Limiting hair loss

Life continued fairly normally until 2023, which was not a good year for us at all. Sadly, in January, my own mummy passed away after also being diagnosed with cancer. This was a huge loss to us and our community, and it wasn’t the only devastating news I’d get that year.

In June, my scheduled mammogram showed an area that needed further investigation. After subsequent precautionary surgery, I was informed that I would also need to undergo another round of precautionary chemotherapy.

I knew that this time, with the kids being older, I wouldn’t be able to hide my condition from them. However, I did want to see if there was a way to stop my hair from falling out to lessen the impact on them, and so I started researching options. I saw that scalp cooling can help limit hair loss, but that this service wasn’t available in Northern Ireland.

So I called Paxman, the makers of the scalp cooling technology and got the number for their NI representative, Stuart. He told me that they had tried to get into Northern Ireland, but without success and that it was very unlikely to happen soon. However when I told him I had private medical insurance, he went away to talk to about options with my consultant, Dr Henry. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I’d hear from him again.

A few days later I got an amazing phone call – I was going to be able to get the scalp cooling treatment after all! I was ecstatic.”

Nurse perspective: Paxman cooling treatment

As someone who had spent 25 years working as a cancer nurse, Rachael Kerr had never offered scalp cooling to her patients.

“I became aware of the usage of scalp cooling in the management of systemic anti-cancer therapy (SACT) induced alopecia when I joined Sciensus. However it was not a service offered in Northern Ireland, although widely used in other areas of the UK.

As SACT nurses we recognise the emotional impact SACT induced alopecia has on those undergoing treatment. My great excitement at hearing we could perform scalp cooling treatment on a patient was mixed with sadness when I discovered who it was. I had already met Michelle, and realised that her wanting this treatment meant she was having to undertake a second round of chemotherapy.

Michelle is an inspirational lady and I wasn’t surprised she was the driving force to bring scalp cooling to Northern Ireland. Her aim is to keep life as normal for her family as possible, and this is one way she could do that.

This is a massive achievement for this region and, thanks to the determination of one patient and the hard work from our colleagues in Paxman and Sciensus, a service I never thought would be introduced in NI is now available.”

Scalp cooling results

Having undergone another six rounds of chemotherapy, this time with scalp cooling being used, Michelle has noticed a huge, beneficial difference from the first round.

“The results were amazing. Within the first few weeks I had minimal hair loss. At this stage I had only told a small amount of people about my cancer in order to protect my children and not to create pity on me.

I managed to get to cycle five without using any hair coverings at all. I was delighted about that because the last time I had no hair from week two.

I finished my treatment in mid-January. My hair regrowth has been amazing from then. It took six weeks for my hair to start regrowing after my first round of chemotherapy. I’m already well ahead of that. I am mentally able to cope with it better this time too, and it wasn’t a big shock to my children which was a priority. I would absolutely recommend Paxman Scalp Cooling to other patients.

I would like to thank my nurses, Rachael and Edel, for their ongoing support. Also thank you to Paxman and their team for making it possible for me to use their machine and be able to come to Northern Ireland. I would also like to thank the team at Sciensus and my consultants Professor Kirk and Dr Henry. More than anything, I want to thank my amazing family and friends for helping me through this, especially my husband and 5 children.

I would like to use my story to help the people of Northern Ireland be able to have this service provided through the NHS and all private sectors like it is in GB and Republic of Ireland. I have been in a lucky position to have had my health insurance in place to provide this service to me.