In January 2022, Tracey Kassman, then 64 years old, faced the reality that her life may be ending sooner than expected. She was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a fast-growing, malignant brain tumor. Patients with glioblastoma have an average life expectancy of 12-18 months.
“I had sort of made peace with the idea that this is a terminal illness, but I also realized that there was a whole lot of other stuff that I wanted to do,” says Tracey. She underwent radiation and chemotherapy at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Then, to her surprise, that April, she was presented with another option by her doctor, neurologic oncologist Chinazom Ibegbu, MD, “who I adore by the way,” she says. “He told me: ‘I think you would be a good candidate for this vaccine that we’re running trials on. Would you be interested in participating?’ And I was like, ‘Let’s see … It’s a really bad prognosis if I don’t do anything, so let’s just do everything we possibly can to try to make sure that I have more birthdays.”
Tracey enrolled in the double-blind SurVaxM clinical trial. That was three years ago.
Life on the clinical trial
SurVaxM is an immunotherapy that was created in a lab at Roswell Park by Robert Fenstermaker, MD, Chair of Neurosurgery and Michael Ciesielski, PhD, Director of the Neuro-Oncology Lab.
“When the opportunity came for me to have another way to extend my life, it was like I had to switch gears of, ‘I’m going to die right away’ to ‘Hey, maybe not,’ and I kind of liked that, ‘Hey, maybe not.’ I felt so lucky. I felt lucky to be here. I felt lucky to be surrounded by people who cared at Roswell Park. I still feel lucky.”
In a double-blind clinical trial such as the one Tracey is enrolled in, all participants receive standard of care treatment for their cancer. One group receives the study medication in addition to the standard treatments; another group receives a placebo plus the standard treatments.
Tracey doesn’t know for sure if she’s getting the real medication or the placebo. But, she jokes, “I have my suspicions.” Today, Tracey is focusing on life beyond being a patient. She’s diving into the things she loves; she completed a writing workshop, took up water aerobics and is spending more time working in her garden and with her family. “This treatment doesn’t interfere with any part of my life really, other than getting here two days every two months.”
Currently, SurVaxM is being studied at 11 sites across the United States. While this phase 2B study is full, and no longer enrolling patients, recent interim analysis of the data show promise, and the study continues.
Cancer research matters
Tracey believes supporting cancer research is more important now than ever before, and she is grateful to the people who dedicate their time and talents to raising funds for Roswell Park. “The thing that makes Roswell Park so great is that they’re preeminent in the research field,” she adds. “The reputation is great, but it’s only great because they care so much about the patients. Any effort that somebody wants to give, any money they want to raise or how many miles they want to ride has got to be fueled by that feeling that this is worthwhile. And of course it is.”
Tracey is just one example of how worthwhile those efforts truly are. Funding from events like Ride for Roswell and Empire State Ride played a key role in getting these trials off the ground, which in turn benefits patients not only here in Buffalo, but now nationwide. For every dollar donated to Roswell Park directly or through events like the Ride, our experts are able to leverage an additional $23 from external grants for cancer research.
“I don’t know of any other charity in Buffalo that’s as focused as Roswell Park is. That’s how you know that any money being raised is not wasted. It’s going to be used for patient support and staff support and research,” Tracey exclaims. “That gives you a great feeling. They grew SurVaxM right here. It’s a homegrown thing. I’m all about that.”
The phase 2B randomized SURVIVE trial is currently underway with existing patients at Roswell Park and 10 other centers nationwide but is no longer recruiting new patients.
Clinical trials at Roswell Park
Clinical trials, including SurVaxM, provide access to the very latest therapies in cancer care and are important options for many patients at any point during their cancer journey.
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.
