United Kingdom.- A woman who was given only a few months to live due to breast cancer is now happy as she participated in a successful experimental trial by taking drugs to treat the disease and is now cancer free.
This is Jasmin David, 51 years old, lives in Fallowfield in Manchester, her doctor informed her that there is no evidence of cancer in her body.
The mother of two first discovered a lump in her breast in November 2017. She eventually learned it was due to an aggressive form of triple-negative breast cancer. She underwent six months of chemotherapy and a mastectomy in April 2018, followed by 15 cycles of radiation therapy that eliminated the cancer from her body. Unfortunately, her cancer returned in October 2019, with scans showing multiple lesions all over her body, meaning she had a poor prognosis.
With cancer cells already spreading to his lungs, lymph nodes and chest bone, doctors gave him the fatal news that he only had months to live. Two months later, David was offered to be part of the Phase 1 clinical trial at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Facility (CRF) at Christie NHS Foundation Trust. As part of the trial, he began taking Atezolizumaban immunotherapy drug, combined with an experimental drug, Pembrolizumab.
“I was 15 months into my initial cancer treatment and had almost forgotten about it, but then the cancer came back,” David recalled.
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“When I was offered the trial, I didn’t know if it would work for me, but I thought I could at least do something to help others and use my body for the next generation. At first, I had a lot of horrible side effects, including headaches and high temperatures, so I was in the hospital over Christmas and pretty bad. Then, luckily, I started responding well to treatment,” said David, who continues to take the immunotherapy drug intravenously every three weeks.
It was in the month of June 2021, scans showed no measurable cancer cells in his body, suggesting that he is cancer free.
“We are very pleased that Jasmin has had such a good result. At The Christie we are continually testing new medicines and therapies to see if they can benefit more people,” said Professor Fiona Thistlethwaite, Medical Oncologist and Clinical Director of Manchester CRF at The Christy.
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