Coming from a clinical research background and an understanding of cancer cell biology, when I was diagnosed initially with pancreatic cancer stage IIb in 2012, I advocated for going well beyond the recommended 12 cycles of Folfirinox to address the strong possibility of minimal residual disease. Pancreatic Cancer’s hallmark is becoming metastatic earlier than other cancers. That can result in micrometastatic disease being present and going undetected whether one had surgery or not.

My decision in doing chemo was not to buy time but to be cured even though I was at a late stage and the tumor board recommended palliative treatment. Eventually Ingot the requested chemo that ended up being 24 cycles of Folfirinox and 22 cycles of 5-FU with Leucovorin for a combined total of 46 cycles.

The treatment lasted 24 months with no pause and administered every 15 days. When treatment began I was 55 and in otherwise very good physical shape. I had no co-morbidities, never smoked and rarely ever consumed alcohol. I was a healthy eater since a young age. So I had those attributes in my favor. After two years of intensive chemotherapy I achieved NED status which means if there is any remaining disease, it was too low to be detected by conventional imaging. Going well beyond the recommended 12 cycles is what likely contributed to being declared cured by a number of oncologists. I will reach 11 years survival from stage IV disease next month.

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