Professor Kevin Mortimer’s Triumph Over Prostate Cancer with Groundbreaking Triple Therapy

Professor Kevin Mortimer, a respiratory medicine consultant, was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer at 48 but is now cancer-free thanks to a revolutionary treatment

In the span of a single day, Professor Kevin Mortimer’s life was forever altered. On what should have been a joyous occasion—his daughter’s 11th birthday—the respiratory medicine consultant at Aintree University Hospital in Liverpool received devastating news. What began as persistent back pain, initially dismissed as a consequence of a long-haul flight, revealed itself to be something far more sinister.

Professor Mortimer, who had dedicated 15 years to his career at the hospital, found himself on the receiving end of a diagnosis that would change his life. The scans he underwent uncovered a grim reality: his body was riddled with cancerous tumours originating from his prostate.

At just 48 years old, he was told his disease was incurable and that he had only a few years to live.

The Diagnosis and Initial Struggle

The news was delivered in the very hospital where Professor Mortimer had spent his professional life.

The irony was not lost on him as he grappled with the reality of his situation. That evening, he had to return home and take his daughter out for a birthday dinner, concealing the devastating news from her. The next morning, he and his wife sat their daughter down to share the truth.

“I told her that I was very poorly and that it was a serious diagnosis,” he recalls. His daughter’s response, “Well, we have to be hopeful, Daddy,” was a beacon of optimism amidst the darkness. However, Professor Mortimer admits that at the time, he was far from hopeful. The weight of the diagnosis left him feeling as though he was experiencing everything for the last time.

The Breakthrough Treatment

Since 2026, a revolutionary approach known as triple therapy has been offered to many men with advanced prostate cancer. This treatment combines two standard therapies with a powerful new hormone drug, darolutamide. Prostate cancer cells thrive on the male sex hormone testosteronebut darolutamide binds to tumour cells, preventing testosterone from reaching them. Patients also receive chemotherapy and a tablet that limits testosterone production.

Professor Mortimer’s journey with this treatment was arduous. The therapy triggered intense pain that left him unable to walk, but the results were almost immediate. Checks on his prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels—a marker for prostate cancer when high—came back dramatically lower. “Each time I went for a scan, the cancer was shrinking,” he says. Within a few months, his PSA score, which was over 600 when he started treatment, was near zero. This remarkable improvement gave him the motivation to endure the pain, knowing the treatment was working.

The Road to Recovery

Within six months, Professor Mortimer was back at work part-time. An avid runner, he completed a half-marathon a few months after that. His cancer had almost completely shrunk after just a few months of taking darolutamide. Today, he is cancer-free and considered a super-responder—a term used to describe patients who tend to be younger and fitter and achieve exceptional results from the triple therapy.

Researchers have identified that about 45% of men are super-responders to this therapy. Professor Gert Attard, a cancer researcher at University College London, notes that the data is promising. “When I started treating prostate cancer patients 20 years ago, the average survival was two years. Now 40% of patients who go on darolutamide are alive and healthy 12 years on,” he says. The potential for future patients to be spared chemotherapy altogether is also being explored, as darolutamide may be doing most of the heavy lifting.

Despite his remarkable recovery, Professor Mortimer knows he is at high risk of the disease returning, as it does in about a third of cases. However, he maintains a positive mindset. “I do get thoughts about it coming back, but I just have to have a positive mindset. I’m a long-term survivor—I just can’t prove it yet,” he says. His journey is a testament to the power of hope and the advancements in medical science.