Cancer Free After Radiation and Chemo DART 2.0 Trial

Posted by 4dogsrental @4dogsrental, Jan 20 9:28pm

I wish to say first that I pray that each of you reading this will one day be able to say, “I am Cancer free!”

I am Cancer free!

After 28 radiation treatments (2 gry each) and 5 chemo treatments (cisplatin), my doctor called me today to inform me that the biomarker used to monitor my HPV-16 Back of Tongue Cancer is at 0! The NavDX test used to measure the biomarker in our blood has been a Godsend to me. Biomarker started at almost 13,000; went down to 365 after four weeks of treatment; and now is at 0!!!!

I have provided on this site a week by week/play by play discussion of my Cancer experience at Mayo Clinic. I terminated my treatments in the DART 2.0 Trial on January 10, 2025; ahead of protocol but based upon a wealth of knowledge shared with me by my Mayo doctors and Staff.
It took until today, to get the news that I had made the right decision to terminate treatment on January 10, 2025; thank you God.

The throat/swallowing pain has been increasing since I terminated treatment, to a level which required that my Gabapentin prescription be supplemented with a Hydrocodone/Tylenol drug. Pain now manageable.

I am so, so thankful to everyone at Mayo Clinic. I will be returning for follow ups in due course to satisfy the trial requirements; and I look forward to providing all that I can to assist in the trial’s success. 28 radiation treatments over 5 1/2 weeks with 56 gry and only 5 chemo treatments to eliminate the Cancer — a case that I hope will assist future patients in my shoes to reduce their treatments and thus reduce the extent of their short and long term side effects — the sole purpose of the trial.
My best wishes and prayers for all of you will continue, now and forever.
My best,
Brian

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Head & Neck Cancer Support Group.

4dogsrental | @4dogsrental | Aug 12 10:45am

In reply to @colleenyoung "@4dogsrental, any update from your latest visit with the hearing doctor? Was it an appointment with..." + (show)

Hi Colleen. Hope you are well. Sorry for delayed response. Yes, I saw a Mayo audiologist. I had experienced some tinnitus after 2nd and 3rd calcitonin treatments so the docs reduced calcitonin dosage for treatments 4 and 5.
Glad to say the follow-up audiological exam showed no long term effects. In fact, doctor said I had hearing capabilities of a much younger man!

bebarb10 | @bebarb10 | Aug 12 10:55am

So weird that I have not heard of the NavDX test. I start chemo and radiation tomorrow for HPV 16 base of the tongue cancer. I will definitely be asking about this

William Olsen, Volunteer Mentor | @hrhwilliam | Aug 12 11:17am

In reply to @4dogsrental "Further note. Since my diagnosis in October/November last year, I have discussed my diagnosis and treatment..." + (show)

This is what Connect is all about, patients helping patients in a way that doctors can not. My wife often says "You don't get it until you get it." You get it.
I am always happy to hear of good results. Thanks for sharing.

4dogsrental | @4dogsrental | Aug 12 11:31am

In reply to @bebarb10 "So weird that I have not heard of the NavDX test. I start chemo and radiation..." + (show)

Mayo and Shands here in Florida, at minimum, are conducting trial studies to, in part, determine whether the NavDX blood test is the best indicator of the presence of HPV-16 base of tongue squamous cell carcinoma. In my research, with no medical background, it appears that situations have occurred where scans and tests have showed no cancer presence but the NavDX blood test indicated there was cancer present. Follow up scans showed there was indeed cancer present thus validating l the NavDX results.
For me, the doctors have shown their confidence in NavDX results to confirm I am cancer free today.
My best wishes to you and I pray for your successful defeat of the cancer.

4dogsrental | @4dogsrental | Aug 12 11:32am

In reply to @hrhwilliam "This is what Connect is all about, patients helping patients in a way that doctors can..." + (show)

Thanks for giving your time as a mentor William. Much appreciated

cwanczyk | @cwanczyk | Aug 12 1:40pm

Thank you very much for getting back to me! I worries I’m sure you are very busy and dealing with recovery and just life! I really appreciate the name of your amazing doc holtzman! I will keep this for reference if I need to go back. I had a doc mayo who was there about 6 months. She removed the moderate dysplasia on my tongue. But I still had some issues with pain and still do on gums and tongue since January. She was very dismissive and annoyed by me with further concerns of pain. Her reviews stated similar things. I am thankful for her care but we were not a good fit. I have found a very good doc at md Anderson Baptist in Jacksonville so following up with her for now but if I need to go back to Mayo I will ask to see your amazing doc. The problem is once you have a doctor in a certain specialty at Mayo they don’t let you switch. So I had to go outside Mayo and I didn’t want to.
Sending prayers that you are healing and healthy! Wishing you and your family well!
Christine

4dogsrental | @4dogsrental | Aug 14 3:00pm

Wishing you the best

connie62 | @connie62 | Aug 22 8:21pm

My situation is similar to yours. I too had squamous cancer at the base of my tongue, that had spread to a lymph node on my neck. It had spread across the midline of my tongue, and I wasn’t a candidate for surgery either. I wasn’t in a clinical trial, but I wasn’t physically able to complete the 7 weeks of radiation 5x a week and chemo once a week for 7 weeks. Mine was Cisplatin also. I ended up completing 5 1/2 weeks of radiation and 5 weeks of chemotherapy. I had a PET scan in July and showed I’m cancer free. The blood test you spoke of went from 1,700, to 60 (2 weeks before I quit treatment) to negative in July.

I found your posts searching for hope. When my chemotherapy oncologist went over my results, and I thought I should be celebrating, she reminded me three times, “you didn’t complete treatment!” She didn’t use the word remission either. I messaged her office a couple days later, and her nurse responded, “complete remission, caveat she didn’t finish treatment.”