Cancer clinical trials can be another option for patients going through their own cancer journey. By being part of one of the trials, you can help researchers determine if new therapies and medications are effective.
After receiving a diagnosis of tongue cancer, Ken Vanorny says there are three things that have helped him through his cancer journey.
“Prayer, positive attitude, and I work at St. Lawrence Catholic School, I kept working over there, I’d see these kids in the hallways and they were smiling and would say hi and give me cards, that just boosted me so much, it was amazing,” said Avera patient, Ken Vanorny.
When Ken started his treatment for cancer, he was identified as someone who would be a good candidate for a clinical trial.
“I said it if will help somebody else, I always been if I can help somebody with something, that’s what I want to do,” said Vanorny.
“For oral cancer, surgery is almost always the initial option and so it was never a doubt whether he was going to have surgery, it was just the question of how much and to what extent,” said head and neck surgeon with Avera Medical Group, William Spanos, MD. “So what the clinical trial asks the question of, is it better to remove all the lymph nodes in the neck, or maybe we could just identify which lymph nodes drain from the cancer, take those out, and if they are positive do a neck dissection and if they are negative, spare the patient from a large neck dissection and that was the trial he was accepted to.”
Dr. Spanos says there is a broad spectrum of clinical trials, and these trials can be beneficial to future research and patients.
“The reason we do clinical trials is that we don’t always have good evidence behind what is the best way to treat the cancer and we are always trying to move forward to say ‘is there a better way to do this,’ and so one route would be to just start giving people things and not track if it works, well we aren’t going to learn anything from that, whereas a better way to do that is a rigorous comparison of old way, new way and to say which one wins,” said Dr. Spanos.
Plus, Avera has been working to bring more clinical trials to the region, giving patients more access to treatment close to home.
“Quite often when people reach diseases such as cancer that are more advanced, they are sometimes having to travel quite a ways, so Chicago, Huston, even the east coast to gain access to some treatments and it’s very nice we are able to have some of those cutting edge treatments in Sioux Falls so you can be around your family and don’t have to travel as far,” said Dr. Spanos.
After surgery, Ken did have to go through radiation for six weeks.
“When we have those concerning features from the results of the surgery that we think the patient is at higher risk for recurrence then we apply some radiation treatments afterwards,” said Dr. Spanos.
It was tough, but his welcome home made it worth it.
“On my last day of radiation, they called us on the way home from school saying we should drive to the school, had no idea what was going to happen, so we pull in and all of the kids are lined on the sidewalk with cards and banners, all the teachers, it was very emotional,” said Vanorny.
Ken continues to meet with Dr. Spanos every few months for follow up.
By participating in a clinical trial, he’s potentially offering hope for future patients.
“When you enroll in a clinical trial it’s not only for your own benefit, sometimes you don’t benefit, and so clinical trials also are to help other people out,” said Dr. Spanos.
While clinical trials are offered in Sioux Falls, Avera also offers clinical trials at some of its regional cancer centers.
