Stage 4 Prostate Cancer Patient Update after 5 Years

In 2014, Chris had Stage 4 Metastatic Prostate Cancer that had spread throughout his body. His physicians gave Chris less than 3 years to live. While he had seen initial results with Chemotherapy, his cancer progressed to over 30 tumors located throughout his body.

After meeting with Dr. Halpert to discuss a promising Dendritic Cell Therapy that he was researching, Chris was one of the first patients to receive an earlier version of Immunocine’s Dendritic Cell Treatment.

The Immunocine Team invited Chris to visit our center to show him how patients were receiving treatment today. Knowing that there are many patients in his previous condition, Chris volunteered to share his treatment journey. 

When were you diagnosed with Prostate Cancer?

I was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer almost 8 years ago. I was totally metastatic with multiple tumors in my lymph nodes and my bones. I was in bad shape. I was told I had two to three years to live at the most.

Initially, I was doing alright with Chemotherapy for the first few years. The only problem was that the Chemotherapy about killed me too. At that point, I was really sick and knew I needed to find a different option.

How did you learn about the Dendritic Cell Treatment?

In 2017, I started speaking with the Oncologist that had treated my Kidney Cancer over 15 years prior. He had enrolled me in a Dendritic Cell Treatment Clinical Trial, and it had cured me. Unfortunately, that was not available (in the US), and he suggested I look for other Dendritic Cell Treatments.

After spending a lot of time looking up research, I found the research that Dr. Halpert and his colleagues were publishing out of the Houston Medical Center. While they could not treat me in the US, a clinic licensing the technology was conducting the first clinical trials for the researchers in Houston. 

Why were you willing to fly abroad to receive the Treatment?

Some of the best treatments for a prospective cancer patient may be ten years down the road, and I just did not have ten years to wait. I had two kids that were six and eight. I did not want to check out on my kids and was willing to do whatever it took.

What were your treatment results?

When I was diagnosed, I had a PSA level of 212 and 30+ individual tumors throughout my body. After receiving this Dendritic Cell Treatment, my PSA went to 0, and all that was left was the primary tumor in my Prostate. However, when they removed that remaining tumor, they found “No Evidence of Disease.”

Without having this treatment, I would not be here talking to you today. To be where I am today eight years later is a miracle in my eyes.

What did your former Oncologist say when you told him you were cancer free?

When I came back, he said, “I wish I could do this.” He’s about my age and said that if he was ever diagnosed with Prostate Cancer, he was going to call me.

What do you think of the Immunocine Cancer Center, and how far has this come?

It’s incredible. Dr. Ortiz and the entire team is great. I wish they were there when I received this treatment. The other thing is that Immunocine’s treatment is made in their own laboratory, which is not always the case with these treatments. Quality matters, especially with these types of treatments.

I also like that Immunocine is working with a respected hospital like Galenia. This is really important, and you don’t always see that when you go outside of the United States. If anything ever happened, I would take comfort in knowing they could take care of it.

Do you have any advice for cancer patients looking at alternative treatments?

Do your research, whether it be for Immunocine or some other type of treatment. While this was not an FDA-approved treatment, the team had conducted an incredible amount of research by the time I had met with them.

There are a lot of people out there doing different things. Research specific to the treatment is an easy way to validate a treatment. I had to know why this was going to work, and any patient should do the same.