Help a long time friend beat AML(Acute myeloid leukemia)

[cooke24]

not sure if posted it in the right area but here.

We are trying to raise money to send a long time friend to USA to give him a second chance of life.

He is 24 years old and has AML, exhuasted all options in canada and has to head south for further treatment.

https://www.gofundme.com/HelpBrandonBeatAML

if you have anything to spare it is greatly appreciated!

quoted from go fund me

Imagine you are 24, diagnosed with one of the most aggressive blood cancers, have already spent your savings (what little you have at 24), and had to quit your job 6 months ago due to your illness. You've moved 3 times in the last 4 months to get medical care and you were just told that there is no additional medical care left for you in Canada. You have to leave your home and your family to get care in another country at your own expense in order to have any hope at a viable treatment. That is the story of my courageous husband, Brandon. This is why we desperately need your help.

[axxess]

Make an Imgur post! I've seen many gofundmes takeoff that way!

[SkinnyPupp]

What's the treatment that they have in the US that they don't have here?

[StylinRed]

Ask your friend if they've been consulted with his oncologist regarding Oncolytic/Virus therapy, where viruses are used to kill off the cancer, it's mainly for tumors but there has been tests using the measles virus for Leukemia Blood Journal | Oncolytic virotherapy for ALL: MSCs to the rescue

the Ottawa hospital Information for cancer patients about oncolytic virus therapy - OHRI is doing clinical trials (not sure what sort of virotherapy though), the link states that their trial is currently full, but it wouldn't hurt to reach out to them to see what you can learn

there are other hospitals in the UK and the USA that are conducting Oncolytic studies, if your friends family haven't heard about it before, they should definitely seek out more info, not just from their Oncologist but from the hospitals/universities running the studies

[MG1]

I have many family members and friends who are suffering and living with cancers of all types. I feel for this person. So young. I wish him the best of luck. Never give up, 'cause miracles do happen.

[dvst8]

I am paying it forward. Good luck to your friend Brandon.

[CharlesInCharge]

Vancouver General Hospital is one of the leading leukemia treatment centers in Canada, and they had tried everything they have available to help Brandon.

I doubt they checked for bacteria... as it can be the cause of such cancers.

[4444]

good luck to your friend, cancer is an atrocious monster that cares little for who you are, how old you are...

i'm also really sorry to hear that he cannot get his required treatment in canada - that is a real worry! (but it happens more than you would know in canada)

I hope that one day the world can come together and more efficiently allocate resources to further the development to destroy many cancers, this current segmented system does not work well enough, resources are squandered.

truly, i hope he pulls through (I have lost way too many people to cancer)

[cooke24]

thanks guys!..

apparently at the facility in the usa, they do more specialized treatments directed towards the individual. I think its more about the size of population which means more people have the disease.

think about it canada only has 33 million approx. USA has 330 million. You just cant treat every single thing in canada.

[StylinRed]

Canada doesn't provide all treatments as some treatments don't meet their threshold of spending the funding on, yet those treatments do cure people. But Canada will also carry out experimental research where everything is unknown, doesn't seem fair i know, but funding isn't unlimited :/

I spoke with your friends wife, and told her about those experimental treatments, hopefully looking into it will have positive results just in case other avenues don't prove successful

best wishes

[CharlesInCharge]

Seems like Ive garnered a good number of fails... can you day laborers elaborate on your conclusion to dismiss my post?

[StylinRed]

Story made the news

Vancouver newlywed with cancer seeking costly care in U.S.

[4444]

Originally Posted by cooke24

thanks guys!..

apparently at the facility in the usa, they do more specialized treatments directed towards the individual. I think its more about the size of population which means more people have the disease.

think about it canada only has 33 million approx. USA has 330 million. You just cant treat every single thing in canada.

ur talking about R&D, and you'd be right. but as for treatment, totally different, the technology, ability, medicines are already developed, no reason canada can't provide, given the $/person spend available for healthcare.

[MG1]

Originally Posted by 4444

given the $/person spend available for healthcare.

Sadly, our healthcare system is being taken advantage of and the dollars that should be going to treat legitimate patients of British Columbia are being shared by others who mooch off of our system. Fraud of the worst kind. Nevermind ICBC fraud, when there are way more Medical cards issued in our province than there are people living in it.............. nuff said.

[StylinRed]

Originally Posted by 4444

ur talking about R&D, and you'd be right. but as for treatment, totally different, the technology, ability, medicines are already developed, no reason canada can't provide, given the $/person spend available for healthcare.

from what i gather in the news article, they don't have any specific treatment that they're seeking out, they're simply looking for options at the Texas hospital, so it's not like msp is saying 'nope' we wont cover that you'll have to go to the states for it, right now they're just looking for options (experimental?)

and Canada won't foot the bill for experimental treatment being undertaken abroad, and iirc that includes treatments with low chances of success

[MG1]

^ yes, and think of it this way......... the amount it costs to maybe, just maybe, and I stress maybe, make a difference to one patient, that money can be used to treat more than just a few people living/surviving/dying with cancer here in our province. I don't think the couple in this situation are questioning the lack of funding by the provincial government. They just need money for a "Hail Mary" treatment, and you can't blame them for trying all avenues.

I can tell you right now, our province does a damn good job as far as cancer treatment is concerned. I would go as far as to say second to none in this country. Without going in to detail, I have first hand experience. It's just sad that our hospital care is not up to par. Anyway. treatment for cancer related issues is very, very expensive and our provincial government does step up. I've heard from a lot of patients who have lived elsewhere in Canada comment on this.

Be glad you live here in BC, peoples. And do everything in your power to help get rid of the freeloaders........., 'cause one day, you or your loved ones are going to need help and our tax dollars will be stretched to the limit because of those fricken freeloading bastards we continue to........... /rant. take three deep breaths, three deep breaths, three deep breaths

We've had a lot of support here in BC in terms of cancer research and care. Terry Fox, for example - great legacy he has left us. Now there's a true hero. No sports hero could ever come close to the influence he has had on generations of people all over the world.

[CharlesInCharge]

Canada's go to treatment for cancer is chemo, is it not? Something like 95% maybe???

Can you provide a statistic of 5-7 year survival rates after chemo? This information is hidden, unless you can find some statistics, all youre selling is false hope and ignorant advice.

Suzanne Somers had stage two breast cancer in the year 2000, shes still alive using unconventional methods and refusing doctor recommended chemo.

[Hondaracer]

Yea and Steve jobs, arguably one of the most powerful and resourceful people on the planet refused traditional surgery/methods and died from a preventable form of cancer. Your argument is a strong one.

[CharlesInCharge]

The western world supposedly spends billions upon billions on health care and cancer research.
B.C. alone spends 18 billion on health a year... http://i.imgur.com/ljGpmBB.jpg

So tell me day labourer, why arent we provided chemo survival rate statistics?

[N.V.M.]

A thread for a dying man, seeking help, and it turns into a debate, even complaints of comment fails. For fuck sakes.

[murd0c]

Originally Posted by CharlesInCharge

The western world supposedly spends billions upon billions on health care and cancer research.
B.C. alone spends 18 billion on health a year... http://i.imgur.com/ljGpmBB.jpg

So tell me day labourer, why arent we provided chemo survival rate statistics?

Just shut the fuck up and give this thread the respect it deserves... If you end up getting cancer i'm sure you would try everything to beat it like this guy is doing... Stop being a fucken hypocrite and learn when to think before you type..

[cooke24]

Originally Posted by StylinRed

Canada doesn't provide all treatments as some treatments don't meet their threshold of spending the funding on, yet those treatments do cure people. But Canada will also carry out experimental research where everything is unknown, doesn't seem fair i know, but funding isn't unlimited :/

I spoke with your friends wife, and told her about those experimental treatments, hopefully looking into it will have positive results just in case other avenues don't prove successful

best wishes

UPDATE

they are now in houston and continuing treatment. i dont know what to say but ALL TREATMENT IN CANADA was administered and failed.

[cooke24]

its all about population.... Canada as a country cannot and will not provide everything for 35 million people.

USA a country of 320 million have much more specialized treatments for smaller cases.

unfortunately its not economically feasible to provide everyone with specialized and individualized treaments.

[cooke24]

i thank everyone that has donated or shared his story.

[StylinRed]

There was a new story on the BBC today, about a new immunotherapy treatment for cancer, it's only experimental but they're claiming 90% of those in the trial who were terminal had their cancers go into remission, however two of those that underwent the trial had adverse effects and passed away

Excitement at new cancer treatment - BBC News

Excitement at new cancer treatment
By James Gallagher
Health editor, BBC News website

9 hours ago
From the section Health


A therapy that retrains the body's immune system to fight cancer has provoked excitement after more than 90% of terminally ill patients reportedly went into remission.

White blood cells were taken from patients with leukaemia, modified in the lab and then put back.

But the data has not been published or reviewed and two patients are said to have died from an extreme immune response.

Experts said the trial was exciting, but still only "a baby step."

The news bubbled out of the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual meeting in Washington DC.

The lead scientist, Prof Stanley Riddell from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle, said all other treatments had failed in these patients and they had only two-to-five months to live.

He told the conference that: "The early data is unprecedented."

Re-training

In the trial, cells from the immune system called killer t-cells were taken out of dozens of patients. The cells normally act like bombs destroying infected tissue.

The researchers genetically modified the t-cells to engineer a new targeting mechanism - with the technical name of chimeric antigen receptors - to target acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Prof Riddell told the BBC: "Essentially what this process does is, it genetically reprograms the T-cell to seek out and recognise and destroy the patient's tumour cells.

"[The patients] were really at the end of the line in terms of treatment options and yet a single dose of this therapy put more than ninety percent of these patients in complete remission where we can't detect any of these leukaemia cells."

But one cancer expert told me they still felt in the dark on the full significance of the study, as the data is not available.

Also seven of the patients developed cytokine release syndrome so severe that they required intensive care, and a further two patients died.

While those odds may be acceptable if facing terminal cancer, the side-effects are much greater than conventional leukaemia treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which work in the majority of patients.


Analysis

By James Gallagher, health editor, BBC News website

The field of immunotherapy - harnessing the immune system to attack cancer - is coming of age.

The significance of today's development is hard to ascertain while the data is unpublished - but the field is undoubtedly making giant strides.

Drugs called checkpoint inhibitors, such as pembrolizumab and ipilimumab, take the brakes off the immune system so it attacks cancer.

They are already being used by doctors.

And other experimental techniques are coming to fruition to allow doctors to change a patient's own cells to engineer a designer immune system to kill cancer.

It's an exciting time that is likely to see immunotherapy soon join chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery as major weapons in the fight against cancer.


There is also a big difference between using such approaches on a blood cancer like leukaemia and "solid" tumours such as breast cancer.


Dr Alan Worsley, from Cancer Research UK, said that while the field was incredibly exciting, "this is a baby step".

He told the BBC: "We've been working for a while using this type of technology, genetically engineering cells. So far it's really shown some promise in this type of blood cancer.

"We should say that in most cases standard treatment for blood cancer is quite effective, so this is for those rare patients where that hasn't worked.

"The real challenge now is how do we get this to work for other cancers, how do we get it to work for what's known as solid cancers, cancers in the tissue?"