Clinical trial helps pancreatic cancer patients

When doctors diagnosed Brenda Scully’s husband with inoperable pancreatic cancer, she was in shock.

Brenda said she tried not to show her emotions to him, staying strong, “I just called the kids and cried to them. And they were very supportive. And I just said to Vince, well, we can deal with this.”

But her husband Vincent Scully knew what could happen next.

“My brother, 10 months older than I was, now deceased, had pancreatic cancer and died from it,” Vincent said.

Only 5% to 10% of pancreatic cancer patients live five years after their diagnosis.

Sarasota Memorial Hospital Dr. Kenneth Meredith said even that road is a bumpy one.

“With pancreatic cancer, the treatment is sometimes as worse than the cancer itself,” said Meredith, medical director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Specialty Program. “A lot of the detrimental effects from chemotherapy – the patients are tired and nauseous, most of the time their blood counts drop.”

Brenda, a retired surgical nurse, said she had to take Vincent to his treatments in a wheelchair because he couldn’t walk.

But there’s new hope for the Scullys and others.

Vincent is part of a clinical trial that uses a catheter to deliver targeted chemotherapy to his tumor.

“Our options were this or nothing,” Brenda said.

One study found 73% of patients who received their chemotherapy through RenovoRX’s targeted method lived two years longer than expected.

For the Scullys, it made an immediate difference.

“We’ve painted our kitchen, we’ve redone our cabinets since he’s been on this treatment,” Brenda said. “Now that tells you that he’s doing OK.”

Vincent said he is almost back to normal.

“Except for every two weeks, I have to go in for a procedure,” he said.

And even that will be over soon. Vincent’s last treatment is next week.

The clinical trial is still enrolling new patients.

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For more information on the trial, visit RenovoRX’s website here.