Innovative Cancer Treatment Helps Patient Live Longer

About six years ago Carrie Rodriguez was told she only had about three months left to live. She had been diagnosed with anal cancer and, even after undergoing surgery and treatment, a scan showed the cancer had spread to her lungs. Doctors told her there was nothing more they could do and sent her home with hospice care. Refusing to believe she would soon lose her life and thinking primarily of her son, who was in high school at the time, Carrie was not willing to give up. “I wanted to find a treatment,” Carrie says. “I knew there had to be something somewhere. I believed I could live longer.” On the advice of her sister and some friends, Carrie contacted the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., and forwarded to them her medical records and details about her condition. Two days later, she received a call from Houssein Abdul Sater, MD, who at that time was working as a physician-scientist for the National Cancer Institute, which is part of the NIH. Dr. Sater was studying immunotherapy for cancer treatment, and he offered Carrie the opportunity to participate in a clinical trial.