OPINION:
I was diagnosed with blood cancer when I was 58. Now I’m 75, thanks in large part to participating in two clinical trials.
My disease is chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), an incurable blood cancer. I’ve had serious complications and many rounds of different cancer treatments.
I am concerned about the recent slowdown in federal funding for medical research of all kinds. The clinical trials that I’ve participated in, like much research, benefited from funding from a variety of sources, including the National Institutes of Health.
Scientists use clinical trials to make sure that experimental new treatments are safe and effective in people and to compare those treatments to currently available ones. Trials are crucial for finding cures and helping everyone with cancer live longer, fulfilling lives.
When I was diagnosed in 2009, the only treatments available to me were crude chemotherapies and one immunotherapy. By 2014 I needed treatment for the first time. I had lost 30% of my body weight and was too weak to walk up a flight of stairs without stopping.
Fortunately, cancer researchers everywhere were exploring new small-molecule therapies that aren’t chemo- or immunotherapy at all.
I entered my first clinical trial to have access to a promising new small-molecule therapy. I got a partial remission from the trial but it was not smooth sailing. Still, scientists learned from my trial and improved treatments as a result.
My strength returned to the point where I could get back on my bicycle and help raise money for lymphoma research.
Yet in 2023, and after several other lines of treatment, I was going downhill again. So I entered a second clinical trial for my CLL.
It worked like a charm. I had my first complete remission — and no detectable cancer cells.
There are no guarantees that all clinical trials will be effective. But science can’t advance without the data collected from people during clinical trials. And clinical trials are the only way to make sure that new cancer treatments are safe and effective for everyone.
I believe in clinical trials because I believe in science. I hope others find ways to support these trials too, either by participating in one or by donating to organizations that support cancer research.
Washington
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