Bruce Maisch is a 71-year-old, lifelong Western New Yorker, husband, dad and grandpa. He’s enjoying his retirement and has always sported a positive attitude. That outlook has come in handy as Bruce has been living with prostate cancer for 14 years.
When he was first diagnosed in 2010, Bruce went through successful radiation and chemotherapy. Since then, he has been through many treatment options that were successful for a time, but the cancer always came back. In the fall of 2023, Bruce’s cancer came back in a powerful way and he had three options before him. He asked his doctor, “If you were me, which would you choose?”
Bruce’s doctor referred him to Roswell Park to begin a course of treatment called theranostics.
Therapy Meets Diagnostics
Metastatic cancer can be a thief of hope for patients and their loved ones who have exhausted their treatment options. Thankfully, there’s an emerging field of precision medicine called theranostics — a combination of therapeutics and diagnostics — that’s bringing hope back to these families.
Thanks to incredible donor support, Roswell Park has built a new, dedicated space to practice theranostics to treat more patients, holding great promise for patients battling many types of cancer.
“I think it’s fantastic,” Bruce said about the generosity donors like you have shown to bring this new center to fruition. “I did my research and realized how fortunate I was to have this treatment available in my own backyard.” Every six weeks, beginning in January 2024, Bruce has returned to Roswell Park for his treatment. Overall, he’s feeling well and able to live life as he normally would.
Donors Offer a Solution
In early 2024, Roswell Park added four shielded rooms dedicated to outpatient theranostic procedures within Nuclear Medicine. This facility not only expands options for patients but lays the foundation for participation in clinical trials and research surrounding the potential for theranostic approaches to reach other cancers, such as sarcoma, lymphoma and esophageal cancer.
There are only approximately 50 centers in the country that offer this type of care, and only a few of those have dedicated theranostic centers. Roswell Park will continue to be one of those few, leading the industry in this cutting-edge cancer care, now with its own dedicated center.
Bruce completed his final round of theranostics treatment in August; his third in the new Theranostics Center. He’s back to the pickleball court, remaining active and positive with the hope of this groundbreaking treatment in his toolbelt. Your generosity generates hope for patients who are with us today and patients who will seek treatment like this in the future.
The new Theranostics Center was made possible by donors like you. This state-of-the-art space that's ready to administer more groundbreaking, lifesaving treatments is entirely thanks to donations of all sizes. From $100 checks sent through the mail to $25 gifts made online to $10 donations contributed through Ride for Roswell fundraising and everything in between, donors have brought hope to an increasing number of patients who are turning to Roswell Park for care.
Editor’s Note: Cancer patient outcomes and experiences may vary, even for those with the same type of cancer. An individual patient’s story should not be used as a prediction of how another patient will respond to treatment. Roswell Park is transparent about the survival rates of our patients as compared to national standards, and provides this information, when available, within the cancer type sections of this website.