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 after doctors uncovered a brain tumor. Glioblastoma has 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,” said Tracey.
Tracey underwent radiation and chemotherapy at Roswell Park. Then, to her surprise, that April, she was presented
with another option.
“Dr. Chinazom Ibegbu, whom I adore, said, ‘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.”
And so, Tracey enrolled in the double-blind SurVaxM clinical trial. That was three years ago.
SurVaxM brain cancer immunotherapy
SurVaxM is an immunotherapy for glioblastoma, a type of aggressive brain tumor. The new treatment option was created in a lab at Roswell Park by Robert Fenstermaker, MD, Chair of Neurosurgery at Roswell Park, and Michael Ciesielski, PhD, Director of the Neuro-oncology Lab at Roswell Park. Funding from donors like you played a key role in getting these trials off the ground. Donations have also been instrumental in advancing clinical trials and moving research from bench to bedside. In 2024, SurVaxM received Fast-Track designation from the FDA.
"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."
Life on a clinical trial
Since Tracey is on a blind clinical trial, she doesn’t know for sure if she’s getting the real medication or the placebo. Today, Tracey is focusing on life beyond being a patient. She’s diving into the things she loves most — a writing workshop, water aerobics and more time in her garden and with her family.
“This treatment doesn’t interfere with any part of my life really, other than getting to Roswell Park two days every two months.”
Message to Roswell Park Donors
Tracey believes supporting cancer research is more important now than ever before, and she is grateful to the people who support Roswell Park through donations.
"The thing that makes Roswell Park so great is that they’re preeminent in the research field,” she added. “Their reputation is great, but it’s only great because they care so much about patients. Any effort that somebody wants to give, any money they want to raise … has got to be fueled by a feeling that this [mission] is worthwhile. And, of course, it is."
After all, Tracey is just one example of how worthwhile those efforts truly are.
For every dollar donated to Roswell Park, our experts are able to leverage an additional $23 from external grants for cancer research. This is thanks to the support of the Roswell Park fundraisers and donors.
“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 exclaimed. “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, exploring the efficacy of SurVaxM, is currently underway with existing patients at Roswell Park and 10 other centers nationwide. Though the trial is no longer recruiting new patients, this phase opens the door to new possibilities for this cutting-edge treatment.
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.