A Florida woman named Lee Mercker from Jacksonville was diagnosed with an early-stage form of breast cancer in March despite maintaining an active and healthy lifestyle. But just this month, she was named as the first patient to kill off breast cancer with the help of a new vaccine.
Breast cancer vaccine that saved her life
In an interview with Fox, Mercker said she was upset and confused while diagnosed with breast cancer because she has been living in a healthy lifestyle. The people around her were stunned as well.
Mercker said that she went to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville in order to start her treatment, but her doctor asked her if she would like to try an experimental vaccine that aims to fight off the early stage of breast cancer and is meant to prevent any future occurrence.
She said that she signed up immediately after the proposal as the shots sounded like a game-changer not just for her but for everyone who has the deadly disease. And after she was given the vaccine, the doctor announced that she was cancer-free.
Dr. Keith Knutson, from the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, said that they saw some evidence of elimination of the tumor, as well as some evidence of the immune system crowding in.
Dr. Knutson said that Mercker's results were what they had hoped the vaccine would do as it developed out, but it happened on their very first human test subject.
Merckers stated that she still went under a double mastectomy to make sure that the breast cancer was out of her body, as the vaccine was just a trial and further studies need to be done. Her removed breast tissue can now be studied by scientists for further results on the vaccine.
Merckers said that it is starting to hit her just how massive of a breakthrough she helped discover after the trial vaccine. She said that she felt overwhelmed. She worked in an industry that has a lot of women, and she saw all kinds of stories about their battle with breast cancer, and it was great to stamp the breast cancer out.
Dr. Knutson said that they have started trying the vaccine on other patients, and they are looking for more trial subjects. The vaccine still has a long way to go, but Dr. Knutson said that it is promising, and it is helping show shades of a future that doctors have been working so hard towards.
What is next for the vaccine?
Dr. Knutson said that a vaccine against breast cancer is only a matter of time. He said that the Mayo Clinic is currently working on numerous vaccines that are aimed at preventing and beating cancer.
He also expects a trial to begin in 2020, on a vaccine that would aim to prevent breast cancer from forming in a healthy patient, it would serve as a flue shot against breast cancer.
Dr. Saranya Chumsri said that a revolutionary vaccine can help the body fight cancer cells. She said that it can stimulate a patient's own immune response so that the immune cells like t-cells would go in and attack cancer.
The treatment involved getting a shot for 12 weeks straight. Mercker said that doctors took her blood, she had a physical and the doctors made her shot on the spot. It was three shots in a row, alternating arms, four shots, two weeks apart.
Everyone that was involved in the trail was ecstatic when the vaccine showed positive results, and Mercker was declared cancer-free.
