RALEIGH, NC. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Colorectal cancer is now the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, and rates among adults under 50 continue to rise. While it’s still most common in older adults, it remains one of the deadliest, with the American Cancer Society estimating more than 55,000 deaths this year. For many patients with advanced disease, treatment still relies heavily on chemotherapy, often with tough side effects and repeat infusions. But one young father is now among the first patients in a groundbreaking clinical trial, and his results could help change how this cancer is treated for others.
Spencer was building a life he loved with his wife, CarleyAnn, and their little girl, Madison, until everything changed.
“My biggest fear was leaving my family and, you know, what they’re gonna do,” he told Ivanhoe.
At just 27 years old, Spencer was diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
“There was probably about a year and a half where there was blood in my stool, and I kept going to my family practice doctor, and every time they said I’m young, I do a lot of heavy lifting, it’s probably hemorrhoids,” he recalled.
Surgery removed his colon. For a while it worked, but two years later…
“They told me I had 13 tumors in my lungs. There was no plan. It was just chemo and radiation and two years to live,” Spencer said.
“I really thought about our daughter. I couldn’t imagine telling her why her dad is not here,” CarleyAnn told Ivanhoe.
Chemotherapy is standard treatment, but it comes with side effects that can last a lifetime, and that scared Spencer.
“He didn’t want to do chemotherapy. He considered it to be something of a last resort,” said Nicholas DeVito, MD, medical oncologist at Duke Health.
Instead, doctors started immunotherapy first with two drugs designed to unlock his own immune system and attack the cancer.
“We need to move the field faster for people like Spencer. Our idea was to give it first line and then use chemotherapy as a rescue,” explained Dr. DeVito.
Every two weeks, Spencer and CarleyAnn, along with their dog Ellie, would pack into their RV and drive four hours to Duke — a long road that’s leading to something remarkable.
“He has had a near-complete response. Most of his cancer is gone. So that’s the goal to do that not just for him, but for everyone,” Dr. DeVito told Ivanhoe.
Today, Spencer is back at home with his family and a future he wasn’t sure he’d see. He thanks his doctors and one other for his recovery.
“Not long after that is when God really showed up in my life. It’s been uphill ever since,” Spencer said.
Doctors say some patients have seen tumors shrink by more than 30% using immunotherapy alone, without chemotherapy. Others are seeing their cancer stabilize or delaying the need for chemo. Researchers hope these results will lead to larger trials at more hospitals, making this approach available to more patients in the future.
Contributors to this news report include: Marsha Lewis, Producer; Matt Goldschmidt, Videographer; & Roque Correa, Editor.
Source:
https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/CRC/PDF/Public/8604.00.pdf
* For More Information, Contact: Matt Talhelm
Senior Media Relations Specialist at Duke Health
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