Vanderbilt Referral

After the refractory news, Thompson Oncology Group referred Cathy to Vanderbilt. There is a doctor there who specializes in refractory MM.

We got an audience quickly. Last week was about loading up and shooting to Nashville for a few days.

Vanderbilt wants to administer a therapy called CAR-T, which is essentially an engineering of the blood to find and fight cancers cells. It is unclear if Cathy will be a candidate however due to her paralysis. 

Dr. D was very caring, thorough and candid. He characterized Cathy’s Cancer as high risk and very aggressive. He said that Cathy’s cancer essentially “learns” ,  and that is what happened to Revlimid when we were so close to the 5%. He was candid and said it would eventually catch up with Darzelez as well and the goal was to get her to CAR T before that happened.  

He explained the CAR T path and the hope we could get her in by Christmas. If we don’t make it to Christmas (Cancer beats Darzelex) there is another drug in the quiver he could turn to.

So - what was good about Vanderbilt is – a known path or paths Cathy could take.  We are hopeful for acceptance into CAR T.

In the mean time, Cathy keeps fighting with Darzelex under the care of Thompson Oncology while Vanderbilt works on the deeper fight. 

In a few weeks (special blood draw), we should know more about how Darzelex is doing.  

Keep Cathy in your prayers.