Scientists find the cure for breast cancer; vaccine heals first woman | unsplash
Scientists find cure for breast cancer; Vaccine cures a woman. Hope arises and takes strength.
A woman from Florida is the first patient to cure breast cancer with the help of a promising new vaccine.
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Lee Mercker, of the Jacksonville area, was diagnosed in March with a form of breast cancer at a very early stage, despite maintaining, he says, a healthy and active lifestyle.
After this and thanks to his disposition and love of life, Lee Mercker, he became the first patient to participate in a clinical trial for a new breast cancer vaccine at the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville. According to reports, the vaccine has eliminated cancer cells.
"I was healthy," he said. "That's why I was angry. I was stunned, and everyone around me was more angry and more stunned."
Mercker said he went to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville to begin treatment, but his doctor asked him if he would like to try something else first: an experimental vaccine that aims to combat early-stage breast cancer and prevent future occurrence.
"I signed up in about 10 seconds," he said.
How was the process
"We saw some evidence of tumor removal, as well as some evidence that the immune system is building up," said Dr. Keith Knutson of the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville.
Knutson said Mercker's results were essentially what his team had expected the vaccine to do as it developed, but it was happening in its first human test subject.
Mercker said he still had a double mastectomy to make sure the breast cancer was completely out of his body, since the vaccine was just a test.
However, Mercker said he is starting to hit the breakthrough that may have helped him discover.
"I feel like I walked on the moon," he said. "I worked in an industry with tons of women and saw all kinds of stories, and it would be really nice to end this [breast cancer]."
Dr. Knutson said they also began testing the vaccine in two other patients and are looking for more test subjects.
The medicine still has a long way to go, but Knutson said it is promising and is helping to show the shadows of a future in which doctors have been working.
"Actually, there will be a breast cancer vaccine and I think it's only a matter of time," said Dr. Knutson.
The doctor said the Mayo Clinic is currently working on several vaccines designed to prevent and fight cancer.
He even expects a trial to begin, possibly next year, with a vaccine that aims to prevent the formation of breast cancer in patients, basically a kind of "vaccine like the flu but that controls breast cancer."
