Patients were able to stick with treatment longer because their side effects were quickly addressed, he said.
* Adults age younger than 50 years with colorectal bleeding symptoms should undergo colonoscopy or an evaluation sufficient to determine a bleeding cause, initiate treatment and complete follow-up to determine resolution of bleeding.
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. ....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 some of the critical things 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.
5. Clinical trials are not a last-resort option.
The lines of treatment are rapidly changing, and, more often than not, getting access to cutting-edge treatments entails enrolling in a clinical trial. There's an unfortunate misconception that clinical trials are reserved for those who have exhausted all other options. In reality, trials can actually offer access to the most individualized cancer treatment. And in fact, immunotherapy is more and more becoming the first line of treatment - and even being used before surgery to prevent relapses.
And just as individual patients can't tackle their disease by themselves, we all ultimately must help one another by sharing and participating in clinical trials. Only 4 percent of cancer patients are currently enrolled in studies. Explore trials at cancer centers with a lot of experience in the type of therapy being tested. See if you have options outside of what has been standard of care for 70-plus years.
In the doctor-patient relationship, patients must understand that they are partners of science and as big a part of the cure as doctors. Without us, and our willingness to participate, medical advances would not exist. I will always feel a tremendous sense of pride for participating in a study that will save many thousands of people's lives.
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