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Resource: For more information about clinical trials taking place in the greater Dayton area, call 937-775-1350 or go online to www.dayton-clinical-oncology-program.org.
Molly Hurd lost her mother to breast cancer at the age of 55.
Her mother’s mother died at 52.
Given her family history, the Eaton mother of three wasn’t taking any chances. At the age of 38, she already had undergone a preventive hysterectomy; she planned on scheduling a double mastectomy.
Then came the diagnosis: Stage 2 breast cancer.
After the initial shock came the logistical challenges of day-to-day life: How would she get her 11-year-old daughter to soccer practice? Who would snuggle with her 5-year-old son at night if she had to seek treatment out of town?
That was two years ago. Turns out, Hurd didn’t need to leave town to get treatment or to participate in a clinical trial.
She joined the ranks of more than 6,000 patients who have undergone clinical trials at 11 area hospitals under the supervision of the Dayton Clinical Oncology Program (DCOP), one of the 50 community oncology programs established by the National Cancer Institute in 1983. DCOP is currently taking part in about 100 clinical trials, including 13 open studies for breast cancer.
“People think if you have a cancer diagnosis you have to look far away to find the latest advancements, and quite frankly they don’t,” said DCOP executive director Mary Ontko. “We have them in town, and a lot of people don’t realize it.”
Occasionally patients travel to larger cities for treatment because they aren’t aware the same trial is happening right here in Dayton, said Rae Norrod, manager of cancer support services for Kettering Health Network. “It’s much better for patients if they can live in their own homes surrounded by family and friends,” she said. “Then they don’t have the fatigue of traveling a long distance or the expense of renting an apartment.”
Receiving treatment at a local hospital has been a godsend for Dayton-area patients. “We wanted to keep our lives as normal as possible,” Hurd said. “I told my daughter, ‘Your job is to be 11.’ ”
For retired third-grade teacher Carol Glaze, 87, it has made “all the difference in the world” to receive treatment in her own back yard, at Springfield Regional Cancer Center, a service of Community Mercy Health Partners. Five years after her diagnosis with breast cancer, she is back to her old active life — traveling, playing bridge, going out with friends. Most of all, she’s able to care for her 92-year-old husband, Ben, recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. “I could get there in 10 minutes and get out in 10 minutes,” she said.
Most gratifying of all, Glaze took part in a clinical trial for a medication designed to keep the skin from breaking down during radiation treatment. “I felt like I was part of something larger than myself that might help others,” she said.
Hurd felt a similar motivation: “I was 7 when my grandmother died. I feel cheated because of losing my grandmother and my mother so young. And, because of the family history, my own daughter might have to deal with this. I wanted to do what I could for the next generation.”
Rita Spedding of Beavercreek is taking part in Kettering Health Network’s “Lymphoseek” trial conducted by the network’s Innovation Center. The study seeks to identify the drug that will be most helpful in finding the sentinel lymph node, or the first lymph node to which cancer is likely to spread.
Spedding hasn’t had an easy life. She faced starvation during her childhood in Nazi Germany, foraging the forests for food. Eleven years ago she survived ovarian cancer, only to be diagnosed, more recently, with breast cancer. “Everybody tells me I am tough,” she said, “but I never thought I would have cancer again. I don’t want anyone else to go through this.”
Medical oncologist Dr. Charles Bane often sees such generosity of spirit in clinical trial patients. “So often I see amazing strength and grace; it’s so uplifting,” said Bane, who is chairman of the Premier Health Cancer Institute.
And it does reap rewards, Norrod said: “Every major advance in cancer treatment is the direct result of a clinical trial. If people don’t participate, those answers come more slowly.”
Some patients fear they will be guinea pigs if they take part in clinical trials. “The biggest fear is they’ll get subpar care or less than the normal treatment,” said Chaundra Foss-Blizard, a clinical research nurse for Springfield Regional Cancer Center. “But they aren’t going to get less surveillance; they’re going to get more.”
Patients must sign an extensive informed consent before taking part in a clinical trial, and every new study is carefully researched before being approved. “It’s an opportunity to have access to great new discoveries,” Bane said. “The patients are given standard proven treatment. They’re receiving what we know is good, and then something extra.”
For Molly Hurd, that “something extra” meant cutting-edge care close to the comforts of home. “My family and my friends and my colleagues surrounded me with so much love and support,” she said. “No one should have to fight alone.”
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