Jaime Winstone catches her breath and pauses to sip a glass of water. She has taken a break from her latest acting project in London to explain how her close friend Paul Nicholls died from colon cancer last year, aged only 27.
The experience has had a profound effect on Jaime, the actress daughter of actor Ray Winstone.
Indeed, watching Paul’s terrible suffering prompted her to move momentarily away from acting to front a BBC health documentary.
Actress Jaime Winstone is fronting a BBC health documentary on human papillomavirus, the fastest-growing killer among her generation
‘Paul began to feel unwell over Christmas 2009,’ says Jaime of her DJ friend of five years. ‘He’d recently gone on a health kick and changed his diet, so when he became severely constipated he thought it was his body’s reaction to that.
‘Within two weeks, his stomach swelled so much he said he looked pregnant but he thought it would sort itself out.
‘After visiting family in Glasgow, he boarded the train to London but spent the journey being violently sick. He collapsed when he got off the train at Euston and an ambulance was called,’ she says.
On New Year’s Eve, a colonoscopy revealed a 2in tumour in his bowel and cancer throughout his abdomen. Doctors broke the news to Paul that he had incurable bowel cancer. the condition is rare in those under 40, with about 85 per cent of sufferers aged 65 and over.
‘That sort of news takes a while to sink in,’ says Jaime, 25. ‘I was ignorant of the facts about cancer. I had no idea what the symptoms of colon cancer were or how it could suddenly be terminal. When you’re in your 20s you think you’re invincible. everyone thinks that cancer happens to other people and certainly not to those my age.
‘Paul deteriorated so quickly. Immediately after diagnosis he had chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which were gruelling and made him very poorly. But his cancer was aggressive and resisted the treatment. He was no longer able to fight it.’
Jamie with her friend Paul Nicholls (sitting down) who died from bowel cancer
Paul’s illness was the reason Jaime agreed to a BBC offer to front a health documentary.
‘Having seen the fabulous work the medical profession do, I find myself looking at those in my industry being paid millions of pounds for making movies and thinking, “What have you done to earn that money? You haven’t saved someone’s life.”‘
Famed for acting roles in the films Kidulthood and Donkey Punch, as well as appearing with her father in TV drama Vincent, Jaime was approached by the BBC soon after Paul’s diagnosis.
‘You feel so helpless,’ she says. ‘Suddenly you have a loved one with cancer and there’s not a thing you can do about it.
‘I couldn’t make Paul’s illness go away or ease his pain. I asked my parents what they thought about the idea of me presenting a documentary about cancer. They said I should do it and were proud of me for wanting to do something to help, as was Paul’s mum.
‘Paul was deteriorating before my eyes. Chemotherapy had debilitated him and he was unable to eat much. He was wearing children’s jeans and even they were big for him.’
The documentary tackles the link between the human papillomavirus (HPV) and rising numbers of head and neck cancer cases among young Britons, described as ‘an emerging epidemic’ by Cancer Research UK. Rates of these cancers are up by 50 per cent in men since 1989 and rising by three per cent a year in women. Oral cancers kill 1,800 a year in the UK.
Jaime says her dad Ray and mum Elaine (both pictured) are proud of her for doing the cancer film
Data from America published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that 70 per cent of oropharyngeal cancer cases are now caused by HPV.
‘The documentary isn’t about the same cancer that Paul died from but it’s the one that’s increasingly affecting people of my generation,’ says Jaime. ‘The most important message to get across is that we must all take responsibility for our health, regardless of how young we are.’
Paul died on August 29 last year. during the course of the film, Jaime discusses HPV and the rising number of head and neck cancers with Professor Margaret Stanley, a world leading expert on HPV from Cambridge University, and Hisham Mehanna, a head and neck consultant specialist at University Hospital, Coventry. He now sees one or two patients a week with this form of cancer. A decade ago it was just a few a year.
Prof Stanley explains that HPV lives in our skin and is so common that about 80 per cent of the sexually active population will acquire it at some point, although almost all will get rid of it. Even so, about one in ten people will not, because their immune system cannot handle it, and that is when problems occur.
Prof Stanley says: ‘These specific cancers are associated with oral sex, but we don’t want to scare people or for them to feel they are at huge risk. the key preventative measures are to limit the amount of partners with whom you have oral sex.
‘Many young people have oral sex because they deem it to be safe, hence the soaring rates of HPV-related head and neck cancers in younger people. if you smoke or drink heavily then you dramatically increase your risk of these types of cancers, too.’
Head and neck cancers associated with the HPV virus seem to respond well to treatment - surgery, aggressive chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy.
‘They occur in very specific places - either on the tonsils or at the base of the tongue,’ says Prof Stanley. ‘Symptoms include difficulty swallowing and hoarseness, but are unlikely to be accompanied by a temperature or fever as they would if you were suffering from tonsillitis or a throat infection. if you have persistent symptoms for two weeks you must see your GP.’
Vaguely aware of HPV through having cervical smear tests, Jaime admits she thought it was a virus only girls could catch and that led to cervical cancer. HPV is recognised as the cause of cervical cancer in women, so two years ago the Government introduced a national vaccination programme for teenage girls.
Now, however, there is a growing argument for boys to be included in the vaccination programme because of the links between the spread of HPV and head and neck cancers.
As part of her investigation, Jaime speaks with various teenage girls about their reluctance to have the free vaccine.
‘I don’t understand why some girls aren’t having the vaccination. They don’t understand that it can prevent cervical and also oral cancer.’
According to Dr Lesley Walker of Cancer Research UK, vaccination against HPV should reduce the level of infection.
‘Evidence suggests that people are more likely to have an HPV-linked cancer if they have had multiple partners, whether they are men or women,’ says Walker.
‘From what I’ve learnt during filming, I strongly believe the vaccine needs to be made available to both sexes,’ says Jaime.
‘It can be bought privately but how many people have ?400 to spend on a jab?’
Has she had the vaccine? ‘Of course. I’m a young woman and I like to have fun. But as a result of Paul’s death and the documentary I’ve made, I know the risks of my behaviour and how to educate and protect not just myself but my generation.
‘If the documentary leads to just one person taking responsibility for their health then it will have been worth it.’
Jaime’s documentary will air on BBC3 at 9pm tomorrow