Potential NET cancer cure
We have a potential cure for NET cancer.
It is sitting in a freezer in a lab in Sweden.
It’s been sitting in that freezer for 30 months.
For want of $1.6 million…
It’s been sitting in that freezer for 30 months because no one has the $1.6 million it will take to do the trials that will prove it works on a large-scale.
It has been sitting in that freezer in that lab for 30 months because the scientist who figured it out published his results quickly. This means, apparently, that no pharmaceutical company will fund the trial because without a patent they won’t be able to make back what it costs. And his altruistic decision to tell people what he had found as early as possible means no one can get a patent.
NET cancer’s funding problem
That $1.6 million represents just under half of what was raised by foundations to fund NET cancer research in the US last year. For NET cancer researchers that trial would be the equivalent of betting your house on a single hand of blackjack. It would defund half of all the research being done without drug company support.
Thirty months ago, Jane was still alive. Her legs were not swollen, she could still climb a flight of stairs without getting winded. The diarrhea was frequent but not constant.
I have some thinking to do…
Thirty months ago we may have had the cure in our hands.
And it went into a freezer.
NET cancer funding consequences
Getting into that trial might have saved Jane’s life. Getting into that trial might have meant I would not be spending our anniversary tomorrow in a cemetery.
…it went into a freezer.
And even if it did not–even if Jane’s NET cancer had been too advanced–how many spouses would not be celebrating anniversaries in graveyards? How many would have their wives and husbands with them today who do not now?
For want of a nail
For want of a nail, the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe, the horse was lost. For want of a horse, the battle was lost, for want of a battle, the kingdom was lost. For want of $1.6 million…
I have some research I have to do yet on this potential cure. I need to have some conversations with some people more qualified than I am to analyze what is there. I have some thinking to do about resources and how to marshal them.
It’s been sitting in that freezer for 30 months…
But if this thing is real–and the Carcinoid Cancer Foundation says it is–and they have been at this for over 40 years–then we need to find a way to get the trials required done. Finding the additional money to do that will be hard–but it has to be done–without destroying all the other research currently going on.
Marathon Walk Update
I reached the top 25 as a fundraiser in this week’s standings–and that does not include close to $900 they had credited me with on the site but not in the standings. I am hoping to reach $10,000 between now and September 9. If we get there by midnight tonight I will shave my head for the event.
Our team has raised over $13,000. We should get to $15,000 by next week, but that will leave us well short of our $25,000 goal. Unfortunately, we are a much smaller team than we were a year ago–and far less experienced. But we have a lot to build on for next year–and we are still out-performing many other, larger teams.
All money our team raises goes to the Walking with Jane Dybowski Fund for Neuroendocrine Cancer at Dana-Farber.
With your help, we will continue to have an impact on the search for a cure for NET cancer.
