6 thoughts on “Attacking Only Malignant Cancer Cells”
My wife is at the go/no-go point for CAR-T (for lymphoma) this week. She’s been riding the crest of medical science for ten years, considered “terminal” the whole time. It’s been rough. But most of her diagnosis cohort at the cancer center are dead.
I wish her, and you, success in this fight. My heart goes out to you.
I extend my sincerest hope that, if it is a go, this treatment works for your wife and that you may have many more years of good health and a happy life together.
Thanks. I’ll have some further commentary about this, because I’ve been involved (as a spectator) in what I believe will be a universal “kill or cure” treatment for all cancers.
My best wishes and prayers for you and your wife as well.
I hope this treatment is real, I’ve heard of many such treatments in the past that seemingly never work out.
Its been about 4 and a half years since my own colon cancer surgery and the day after when I fully awakened to learn the expected but still terrible news that my brother had just lost his fight with pancreatic cancer. December 2016 was a hard month.
My wife has been through the mill, with surgery, radiation (including 3D whole body radiation) and numerous rounds of chemo. A few years ago, reaching stage 4 anal cancer with metastases everywhere, she was admitted to a study (meaning it was paid for by the grant, not insurance) that was an ancestor of what’s now CAR-T. That was a way to train the T-Cells by genetically enginering listeria to carry her cancer markers, then giving her listeriosis (fatal if untreated), followed by a course of antibiotics to kill the listeria. This was done every few weeks for 6 months. Then an MRI was done, following which the oncologist in charge said, “Well. You’re not cured or in remission, we just don’t know what happened to your cancer.” Unfortunately, this was followed by a sudden, rapidly growing lymphoma. That was treated, but 3 years later it came back. The rules say two standard lymphoma treatments have to fail before you can have CAR-T (i.e., before the insurance will pay for it). We’re at that juncture now. In its present form, CAR-T is dangerous. In a few years, it’ll be better. So my wife continues to surf the frontiers of treatment.
My wife is at the go/no-go point for CAR-T (for lymphoma) this week. She’s been riding the crest of medical science for ten years, considered “terminal” the whole time. It’s been rough. But most of her diagnosis cohort at the cancer center are dead.
I wish her, and you, success in this fight. My heart goes out to you.
I extend my sincerest hope that, if it is a go, this treatment works for your wife and that you may have many more years of good health and a happy life together.
Thanks. I’ll have some further commentary about this, because I’ve been involved (as a spectator) in what I believe will be a universal “kill or cure” treatment for all cancers.
My best wishes and prayers for you and your wife as well.
I hope this treatment is real, I’ve heard of many such treatments in the past that seemingly never work out.
Its been about 4 and a half years since my own colon cancer surgery and the day after when I fully awakened to learn the expected but still terrible news that my brother had just lost his fight with pancreatic cancer. December 2016 was a hard month.
My wife has been through the mill, with surgery, radiation (including 3D whole body radiation) and numerous rounds of chemo. A few years ago, reaching stage 4 anal cancer with metastases everywhere, she was admitted to a study (meaning it was paid for by the grant, not insurance) that was an ancestor of what’s now CAR-T. That was a way to train the T-Cells by genetically enginering listeria to carry her cancer markers, then giving her listeriosis (fatal if untreated), followed by a course of antibiotics to kill the listeria. This was done every few weeks for 6 months. Then an MRI was done, following which the oncologist in charge said, “Well. You’re not cured or in remission, we just don’t know what happened to your cancer.” Unfortunately, this was followed by a sudden, rapidly growing lymphoma. That was treated, but 3 years later it came back. The rules say two standard lymphoma treatments have to fail before you can have CAR-T (i.e., before the insurance will pay for it). We’re at that juncture now. In its present form, CAR-T is dangerous. In a few years, it’ll be better. So my wife continues to surf the frontiers of treatment.