I am thrilled and honored to speak in support of other cancer patients, hoping to share the power and promise of integrative care, and raise much needed funding for continued research in rare blood cancer treatments.
You see, with a background in pharmaceutical advertising, I had seen the many advances in cancer treatment. I knew of the pills, the faster infusions, and the lessened side effects that large groups of patients all over the world where benefiting from. Higher efficacy rates, higher remission rates, better safety, all being achieved. It was truly incredible how far we had come.
However, when Hodgkin lymphoma happened to me, the regimen I was on was thirty years old. Thirty. It hadn't been touched or altered since the early 1980's. Treatment was still a four to five hour drip with intense, life halting, adverse events and side effects. Why? With all of this advancement and treatment sophistication over the last ten years, why was my treatment so ancient? Why had it stopped evolving, improving, advancing? Because we Hodgkin patients are rare. Large patient groups didn't exist for us, and because of that, the research and the advancement falls behind the others. So, I am driven to bring as much awareness, support, and funding as possible to give rare blood cancers the research and advancement that is so desperately needed. Because I believe we can do this better.