IN MY SHOES: She Wants To Live, Dammit!
Since 1999 Geraldine Satossky, 67, has been fighting breast cancer, and credits Avastin for keeping her alive after the cancer metastasized to her liver. But the FDA has Avastin in its cross-hairs – in large part, because it is costly - and Satossky writes in the Wall Street Journal op-ed that she is “terribly frightened - and angry”:
I underwent surgery, a liver resection. I was then put on the drugs Navelbine and Etoposide. At first, it seemed to work—my cancer went into remission. But three years later, the cancer came back. I now had four tumors in my liver and my outlook wasn't very good. My doctor was blunt: "You're in big trouble," he told me.
Thankfully, a clinical trial had recently started and I was selected for a combination of Xeloda and Avastin. Xeloda is a chemotherapy pill that kills cancerous cells. Avastin cuts off blood-flow to tumors. Almost immediately two of my tumors disappeared. The duel-pronged approach appeared to be working. …
If Avastin is withdrawn, countless women who might benefit from the drug will be denied. This is outrageous. …
Cancer usually comes back. It's smart and tricky, so there is the possibility that at some point this combination of Avastin and Xeloda will stop working for me. If so, I hope that by then there will be another treatment available—or maybe even a cure. All I'm asking for is time for that new treatment to be developed.
Until then, Avastin is all I have. And I want to live.
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