Blazing the trail

by Melissa Soria
Pharos-Tribune staff writer

May 20, 2008 11:31 am

— According to Dr. George Sledge, an oncologist at the Indiana University Medical Center, Royal Center native Terry Farrer helped change the path of breast cancer research.
This February, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug Avastin for use with patients struggling with recurrent breast cancer.
Farrer was a part of a research study conducted in Indianapolis. Even though the study didn’t result in a positive outcome for her in particular, she said she had no regrets about participating.
In a January 2006 article in the Pharos-Tribune, Farrer said the drug was working, and the cancer had stopped spreading. A month later, though, she found out that it was a false hope.
The cancer had come back.

Her story
Farrer was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 1993. She was 40 years old.
She had felt a lump in her breast at the time, but it didn’t faze the Pioneer School Corporation food service director.
“I thought nothing of it,” she recalled.
Farrer admits, though, that when she found out that the diagnosis was cancer, the news turned her life upside down.
“It was pretty traumatic,” she said. “I had no family history of breast cancer at the time.”
Farrer had to undergo a total mastectomy reconstruction surgery. The cancer was in the lymph nodes, which required her to have intensive chemotherapy over a period of six months. Afterward, the cancer went into remission.
Farrer began taking the drug, Tamoxifen, to keep the cancer cells dormant for the next five years.
In 2003, she thought the cancer was behind her for good, but she was wrong.
During a regular check-up, the doctor found a small mass on her right ovary, proving that the cancer had spread.
She began taking the drug Femara in January 2003, but in August, her cancer blood cell count began to rise, and doctors began to look at alternative treatments.

The study
In December of that year, Farrer was told about a breast cancer research study where patients would use the drug Avastin. Farrer would take Avastin with the chemotherapy drug Taxol until May 2005, when she would begin taking Avastin alone.
Avastin had yet to be approved by the FDA.
Farrer said she was never afraid to participate in the study.
“When you’re diagnosed with cancer, you’ll do anything,” she said.
The study was being directed by Sledge, who is at the top of the field in breast cancer research.
The doctor is the chairman of the Breast Committee of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group. He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s Board of Directors and was a recipient of the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s Brinker Award for outstanding research in breast cancer.
Overall, Sledge said, the findings of the study were positive. Patients with recurrent breast cancer remained in remission for twice as long while taking the drug.
More than 30 women participated in the study in Indianapolis, and 700 nationwide.
Farrer said she was ecstatic about being approved for the study.
“I was like, ‘Praise the Lord! I’m in this study!” she said. “I wanted to be in the study. It was the best chance I could have had of surviving.”
Farrer said she felt it was her turn to participate in a research study for the benefit of future breast cancer patients.
In February 2006, though, doctors found the tumor on her ovary had grown.
“At that point, we needed to change treatments,” she said.
Farrer began taking Herceptin, again with Taxol.
Just two months after changing to Herceptin, physicians found no cancer cells in Farrer’s body.
She believes this was the combination of drugs that she needed. With cancer, what works for one person, may not work for another, Farrer explained.
Sledge said he’s grateful for women like Farrer.
“Terry participated in something that truly changed the way of breast cancer,” he said. “The women who go on these trials are my heroes. They’re literally putting their lives and bodies on the line.
“When we get positive results, the entire world should be grateful for these women,” he added.
Farrer urges other women battling breast cancer to participate in research studies. She said it can increase chances of survival and would benefit future cancer patients.
“I don’t see myself as a hero,” she said, pausing to reflect back on her journey. “I just see myself as a survivor.”
Melissa Soria may be reached at (574) 732-5143 or via e-mail at melissa.soria@pharostribune.com

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