At the age of 24, after two surgeries and two aggressive rounds of chemotherapy failed to cure me, my oncologist sent me home to die. When I was first diagnosed with colon cancer in 2013, I'd never even heard the word immunotherapy. I didn't know that my doctors wouldn't have all the answers. I thought clinical trials were last-ditch efforts rather than treatments that save countless lives. I didn't know that a treatment geared to fighting my specific type of cancer and the genetic components of my tumor would go on to potentially offer tens of thousands of patients a revolutionary new path to surviving cancer in 2017.
Because I’m one of the very few lucky ones who looked into the abyss and made it out on the other side, I feel it is my duty to speak up and share all that I have learned in what is now a new era in cancer care. Because a disease that should have killed me instead launched my career in patient advocacy.
No comments:
Post a Comment