My Second Chance is here!

10 years after my original diagnosis, 4 different chemotherapies, and 2 different immune therapies, I am still struggling with Hodgkins Lymphoma. In the past year and a half, it has been affecting my breathing to the point where my left lung collapsed for a week from enlarged lymph nodes closing off the airway, but after 3 years of waiting lists for clinical trials, my name finally came up!!!

On Jan 9, I am starting a phase 1 clinical trial through Baylor College of Medicine at Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas.

It is an Allogeneic CAR-T therapy. In short, this involves 3 days of mild chemotherapy to deplete my immune system followed by the CAR-T infusion. I will be there 5 weeks total with the trial concluding on February 14. I fully expect to be cancer free at that point and to stay cancer free for the rest of my life. I have had clear scans before, but never 2 in a row. The cancer always came back after a few months. However, this treatment has the potential to be a real cure. It's a small new phase 1 trial of only 18 people, so I don't have any real statistics to share about the success rate. The doctors only say it is promising and that they have had some good outcomes. CAR-T is fairly well established as a good treatment for other blood cancers, so I am fully convinced that this is an excellent option for me and that it is going to work. In 2023 I will truly be cancer free for the first time in 10 years!