In 2015, Karen Peterson revealed stage 1 triple-negative breast cancer. After passing three months of chemotherapy with difficult side effects, he decided to get a voluntary double mastectomy to remove cancer.
By 2017, his cancer had returned aggressively. He had tumors in the pelvis, lungs and spinal cord. Peterson revealed stage 4 (metastatic) triple-negative breast cancer, which was Is considered incurable,
Peterson said, “I went from Stage 1 to Stage 4 in less than two years. My life was on line. I had a 4% chance to survive.” Health,
At that time Peterson’s medical team was resistant to the discovery of other treatment options. Therefore, he took care of himself in his hands, directly approached to medical researchers, who were prominent of clinical trials. He landed in a full -time, early stage clinical test using immunotherapy drugs. After eight weeks, Peterson had reduced the size of the tumor by 70%.
Now, about eight years old cancer-free, Peterson spoke Health What about her treatment trip and what she learned about finding the right clinical tests for her.
What was your initial response to your first breast cancer diagnosis?
Peterson: To be transparent, I treated my beginners Step 1 diagnosis Like it was a sprain ankle.
My grandmother died of metastatic breasts and ovarian cancer at a very young age, so I knew that it had run into my family. I was always at the top to go to the doctor and get my mammograms.
I was also saved from a childhood cancer. I had Wilms Tumor at the age of 3, and I beat it without any relaxation. I was on a very good run. So I was so, “Oh, you know, a cancer diagnosis.”
I went online to read about side effects [of chemotherapy]I thought, “I am not going to happen. I am not getting the taste of metal, I am not going to lose my hair, I am not suffering from fatigue. None of these things are going to bother me.”
And even though my grandmother could not escape her diagnosis, but I realized that her presence looks at my journey; She was going to ensure that I was fine. So this was my attitude; I did not have this disastrous response. I went into automatic mode.
After receiving your second diagnosis, how did you want to do things differently?
Peterson: I made a pledge to myself: No matter what conversation, no matter whom you are talking to, no matter what you are in, no matter what information you are digested, you will take an informed decision. You will not take any decision on the basis of emotion.
It should be science-based, out of faith, out of flexibility, all of these other integrals. I needed scientific evidence that I was going in the right direction.
So, what did he look like? This was 2017. In addition to chemotherapy and radiation, there was no FDA-analogous treatment scheme for triple-negative breast cancer. So for me the door was open to think about various treatment options, whether it was immunotherapyClinical testing, a parp inhibitor, whichever.
I made sure that I have understood the root cause of my cancer – do i have genetic mutationDo I have a high mutual burden, meaning that I will become a great candidate for immunotherapy? I needed to clarify these things so that I could take an informed decision about my treatment options.
What are some steps you take to find out your treatment options?
Peterson: I spoke to many people. I read an article about a woman named Stephanie Joho, who is a colon cancer, which was successful with immunotherapy. I thought by myself, here is a woman who went through immunotherapy, and she was almost counted, and it worked for her. If it works for him, even if we did not know the same disease, there is a possibility for me.
I found him down after my clinical test, and I thanked him because his story gave me hope.
There was another woman in New Jersey who was a triple-negative breast cancer patient. He made news to go into one Clinical test quickly. I called her and asked her to go for lunch, and she came to Harlem. We went for lunch and explained to me how he did it.
So I had a perspective of the patient. Then, I went to laboratories and talked sweetly for previous security and interacted with researchers about clinical research. I had the second and third opinion.
By the time I went to a doctor, I knew his research, I knew that he used to treat patients, I knew his case. I wanted to interact about the study of their case and how could I apply my research in my particular case. I adopted personal oncology.
What did you learn about finding a clinical test?
Peterson: I had to learn what kind of clinical test to see. Then, I spoke to the researchers. He was very honest.
A researcher told me that if I was trying to do immunotherapy on the basis of my biomarker score, most people were responding with double agents in my position at that time and not monothe. Therefore, I knew that only any clinical test offering monotherapy was away from the table.
Then I talked to another patient, and they told me the difference between step 1, step 2 and step 3 [of trials]In step 3You get either a standard of care or experimental medicine. He said, “You have stage 4 triple negative breast cancer. Can you survive and wait for it?”
So, Phase 3 was away from the table for me. I needed medication, so I saw only step 1 or step 2 tests with double agents.
Once you find a diagnostic test, it is another challenge to accept. What would you say that the most important factor for getting into the test is?
Peterson: When I was looking at the first thing that jumped on me clinicaltrials.gov And reading the details of the tests was the exclusion criteria. I was going to make sure that I did nothing that would make me out of a test.
In 2017, the rule was that you could only have Two rows of treatmentIf you had more, you will be excluded from the clinical test.
Working with my oncology team, my goal was to be very healthy [without additional lines of treatment]If I was not suffering from any symptoms and my tumors were not growing, I could stay away from additional drugs until I came to a test.
You will have to be ready to washout 30-day of any drugs before you consider for special tests.
How did you land on your clinical test?
Peterson: After going away from some tests, I decided to cut the middleman. I made a list of people who were leading the tests targeting immunotherapy with only double agents, and I cold-coal and sent them to their medical reports.
Daniel Cho, one of those doctors, was an oncologist at New York University in New York City. He did not have a continuous test that was a perfect fit for me, but he said that he had a clinical trial that was coming under the pipeline that was not yet listed, and asked if I would be interested.
Because I had flexibility to send him a report on a cold call, I had reached the top of the pack, and I did it in really quick time. I confirmed my diagnosis in April 2017, I received my genomic test in May, and until June, I with my information on the phone. Called Cho.
As of July 30, 2017, I was the first triple-negative breast cancer patient in the country to attend that particular test. The test included many cancers-melonoma, small cell lungs, bladder-and 35 triple-negative. There were five respondents, and I was the only full response.
How to get treatment through a clinical test for the first time than the more standard passage you have gone?
Peterson: Comparing the treatment of staff interactions, the nursing staff was about the same. Both nursing staff were attentive, they did their work, and was kind.
What was different was a doctor. Dr. With clinical trials of Cho and their employees, I felt it is a well -oil machine. They saw me there.
The first week I was there for my infusion, I was there every day, Monday to Friday, for several hours. I was being taken a lot of blood, a lot of data was being taken.
And there were additional employees. I had a nutritionist, a social worker, a person who ensured that my insurance lapse was not a mental health professional and a massage. I did not have all these things in a regular treatment center.
They were very careful and deliberate about making sure that I was safe. I had never experienced anything like this. I felt as if I had my own personal watch team.
