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Jim Wilson, lung and liver cancer, cancer trial
participant
“The most important thing to a cancer patient is time.”
“The most important thing to a cancer patient is time,” Jim
Wilson says, “and you don’t want to spend it waiting.” He knows. When he felt a
small pain in his side, this 64-year-old stopped by a walk-in clinic. When he
heard the diagnosis—lung cancer metastasized to his liver—he checked out his
options. His family physician told him about clinical trials and sent him to a
pulmonary specialist. With the diagnosis confirmed, Jim was ready to meet
immediately with an oncologist. He called in his wife, son, daughter, and
daughter-in-law to help.
“They sat down at the computer on a Sunday
afternoon,” Jim remembers. “By 6:00 p.m., we had e-mails from people around the
world, many referring me to Dr David Carbone at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer
Center—only about 120 miles from my home. On Monday, Dr Carbone interrupted a
vacation to meet with me, do tests, and refer me to a clinical trial. On
Tuesday, I began chemotherapy.”
Jim’s clinical trial of Camptosar® (irinotecan
hydrochloride) and cisplatin sent his cancer into remission: The tumors on his
lungs disappeared and the masses on his liver were reduced by 90%. After
radiation treatment, he signed up for a second round of chemo with half the
number of treatments. “My family continues to be very involved,” Jim says. “It
helps to know that the decision to do a clinical trial was the right choice.”
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