About cancer clinical trials

Adrienne, patient with breast cancer: Three words that really describe me I would say are bold, energetic and faithful.

Ronald, patient with prostate cancer: I would say that I try to be fair and honest.

Carol, patient with melanoma: Three words that describe me, I think, would be caring and compassionate. I think I'm loyal. And then I'm also very curious about things. I got the biopsy report before even seeing the doctor or anything. So I remember that moment very vividly because I read that and knew the seriousness of it.

Ronald: When I first got diagnosed, I thought it was like going down a dark alley and that's what I had pictured it. There were no lights. You didn't know where you were going, didn't know where you were going to end. But that was 19 years ago. So, I'm very grateful.

Adrienne: I felt all of the emotions; and most of all, I was really frightened about not being there for my daughter.

Matthew S. Block, M.D., Ph.D., medical oncologist: Often when a patient is diagnosed with cancer, they feel hopeless and scared. Clinical trials are one way that patients can be proactive. They can make a choice in how their care is going to be.

Geoffrey B. Johnson, M.D., Ph.D., nuclear radiologist: Clinical trials open the door to a new hope that maybe we can fight their cancer back and give them a better quality of life.

Judy C. Boughey, M.D., surgical oncologist: I think one common misperception about clinical trials is that if you enter a clinical trial, you may not get treatment. And that's actually very much not true. Most clinical trials are looking at one treatment compared to another treatment.

Carol: The trials provide an opportunity to feel like you're getting extra-special care. You're getting an extra-special dose of something that maybe wouldn't be available to you.

Dr. Boughey: We are very particular in how we select the clinical trials that we have available for patients. We want to have the best trials available for our patients. Some of the clinical trials are evaluating some of these drugs. We are so excited about those drugs, but we can't prescribe those drugs for patients without having that trial. And so we will actually fight to try to get that trial open here to have it available as an opportunity for our patients.

Adrienne: It is always patient first at Mayo, and they will always keep your health, your treatment at the center and what's best for you.

Ronald: We were always told upfront that if whenever we didn't think it was right, we could stop at any time. And I did truly believe that was true and trusted in them that I could stop whenever I wanted.

Dr. Boughey: For most patients that we evaluate, there's always the standard-of-care treatment option for those patients. And then in many situations, there's also a clinical trial that patient can participate in.

Carol: I've been in four different ones. This last trial had a little trigger in it that they're working with, and it seemed to make all the difference in the world. And so my prognosis of "You have 9 to 12 months" has totally changed.

Dr. Johnson: We couldn't advance medicine if it weren't for people volunteering for trials. And the promise from our side is to say we're not going to put patients on trials or offer trials for them to consider unless we think there's a good chance that they'll get a benefit or that society at large will get a benefit.

Adrienne: It wasn't lost on me that people before me, really bold, brave souls before me, said yes to clinical trials. So that the treatments and the medications and the courses that we all go through today are effective — and that can help save lives.

Dr. Boughey: So for any patients interested in clinical trials, it's definitely worth reaching out to your healthcare provider and asking, "What clinical trials could I be a potential candidate for?" And remember, you can ask this from your surgical oncologist, your medical oncologist, your radiation oncologist, any of the physicians that you're seeing. Because there are trials in all sorts of disciplines. There are also ongoing trials that require just collection of tissue or donation of blood that can also be important to try to help future generations as we continue to work to end cancer.

Carol: Thanks to my clinical trial, I've been given precious time to spend with family and friends, who are just the most dearest thing to me.

Ronald: I'm thankful that I did my clinical trial because I do believe I wouldn't be here if I hadn't tried it. I enjoy my grandkids, and that's the big part of this: I'll be around for a little longer, hopefully, and then this is why we do it.

Adrienne: I have always felt from day one until today that Mayo has kept me at the center and has always wanted what's best for me. And as a part of that, clinical trials was a way to provide me with cutting-edge treatments and provide me a way to also help others — and I am better for it.