LANSING, Mich. – A clinical trial to treat glioblastoma is underway at the Cleveland Clinic.
Researchers hope the medication will help keep the tumor from returning; But for one Lansing mom, that’s precisely what it’s doing.
Katy Sanchez has participated in a clinical trial at the Cleveland Clinic for the past five years.
“I usually tell people that I had cancer, and now I don’t,” said Sanchez.
At just 28, Sanchez was diagnosed with a glioblastoma, which is an aggressive type of brain tumor that often reoccurs.
“I remember thinking, well, like, they’ll just take it out, and I’ll be fine,” Sanchez said. “Which is great in theory, but as you learn more about the diagnosis, it’s like, well.”
Before joining the clinical trial, Sanchez had surgery to remove the tumor, chemo, and radiation.
“This medicine, the SurVaxM, is designed to stimulate the immune system to attack a protein that sits on top of the glioblastoma cells but not on the surface of any normal cells,” said Cleveland Clinic Oncologist Dr. David Peereboom.
In the trial, the medication extended the average survival from 14 months to about two years. But for some, like Sanchez, it keeps the glioblastoma at bay.
“Some patients are doing beautifully with it and have had control of their disease for a long time,” Peereboom said. “And in some cases, well better up to five years and more, like in Sanchez’s case.”
Sanchez and her husband now have a daughter named Lillian, who was born through surrogacy.
She is grateful to have found the trial and has this advice for others. “Don’t give up.”
“It was going to be, ‘What do I need to do to put this in our past and move forward and live my life normally,’” Sanchez said. “So, I do what the doctors tell me.”
The clinical trial is ongoing and continues to accept new participants.
The drug is also being evaluated for its ability to fight other types of brain tumors.