Hi LJT1963 and thank you for your post.

I am very sorry to hear about your son's situation, and I can appreciate you want to do all you can to help him.

We usually suggest that if people are interested in trials they discuss this with their hospital specialists as they are the ones who do the referrals.

We have information about taking part in trials and a clinical trials database on our website, which you can look at. This lists the trials that we are aware of and have permission to put on the website.

 Unfortunately, it isn't comprehensive as there may be trials we don't know about or haven't been allowed to include.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has a database on its website called Be Part of Research which you may also like to search on.

Patients who wish to take part in almost all clinical trials must have a medical referral from their hospital specialist to the doctor running the trial. Therefore your son will need to discuss it with his cancer specialist. We suggest you print off a copy of the information and take it along to his appointment.

All trials have very strict entry requirements. So your son must match these to take part. It depends on the trial entry requirements whether participants have received previous cancer treatment, such as surgery or chemotherapy. Some trials request no prior treatment before starting the trial.

If it looks like an appropriate trial, his doctor can then send a referral to the doctor running the trial at the nearest participating centre.

If your son is a suitable candidate for a trial, the trial team will usually act quickly to recruit. Although he may need to have more scans and tests before starting the trial.

This is an incredibly difficult time for you. I hope this information helps. Let us know if you have any further questions or concerns.

It might help to talk things through with one of our nurses on the helpline. You can call for free on 0808 800 4040, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

Kind regards

Tina