My mum got funding for a breast cancer drug that will dramatically increase her life expectancy!
My mum got funding for a breast cancer drug that will dramatically increase her life expectancy!
My mum’s breast cancer came back a month ago - it’s stage 4 and it’s metastasised to her bones. Her life expectancy is about 6 months without treatment. She has triple negative breast cancer which is rarer, more aggressive and significantly harder to treat than the more common hormone-responsive breast cancers.
There’s a new immunotherapy drug, pembrolizumab, which is effective on advanced triple negative breast cancer when given alongside standard chemotherapy. But it costs £3000 per treatment and she needs 18 rounds of it. Her oncologist applied for funding and got it!
After 6 months of treatment my mum should have 23 months of “progression free survival” compared to 16 months if she had chemo alone. She’s only 57 so every extra day I can have my mum in life is truly a gift. I’m so so grateful for our NHS.
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That's awesome. *mab drugs are fucking nuts and have so many uses. Mouse/human chimaeric antibodies in the case of hers.
Glad they got her funding and you get more time.
I have lupus and my consultants are going to try me on biologics/mabs - hydroxychloroquine damaged my eyesight and methotrexate damaged my liver. I’m pretty excited to try it!
Thank you for your kind words 🙂
Jesus. Rheumatoid Arthritis here. I just got back on methotrexate because it was fucking my liver. I'm hoping my enzymes don't climb again. Hcq makes me lactose intolerant. Antibody treatments are nice. Stay strong and take care of yourself - finding the right mix takes time.
It’s been 15 years, but my lupus is stubborn - it’s never gone into remission. HCQ, MTX, prednisolone and a boat load of painkillers worked well enough for a long time, but my disease activity is flaring badly atm. Probably the stress of my mums diagnosis, - it happened last time too. My dad has RA. He’s been on anti-TNF for donkey years now - he was in the original clinical study! It enabled him to work a physical job for 20 years when he couldn’t do his shirt up or bend to put his shoes on before. Magical medicines - absolutely wank diseases. I wish you many more good days than bad and optimal LFTs!