New clinical trial for recurrent head and neck cancer

Hi All,

Just wanted to let you know that Pat's oncologist, Dr. Antonio Jimeno of the University of Colorado Cancer Center, has just initiated a new clinical trial for recurrent head and neck cancer that has not responded to conventional treatment.

I know not many of you are from anywhere near Colorado, but I have to say that we believe that the University of Colorado head and neck program is a fantastic program. At the time we were looking at treatment options, we were told by some doctors that treatment options were very limited, and by others that even if we were to do the treatment, the side effects may be so debilitating that it may not be worth it. We got a third opinion at University of Colorado. Not only were the doctors there willing to fight with us, they were far more optimistic about the side effects than other doctors. We feel it is because they had experience in treating these types of cancers and knew what they could do and what was likely to happen. The treatment, as you all know, was brutal, but right now Pat has a great quality of life. His last PET in November was clear and he has another one next week. We don't know what this PET will bring, but we feel that UCCC will continue to fight with us as long as we want to and as long as there are treatment options available. This clinical trial just adds one more possibility in the fight against this horrible disease.

Dr. Jimeno is really the only researcher that also sees patients. I would highly recommend him to anyone as well as Dr. Chen, the radiation oncologist. They also have a top notch head and neck surgeon, Dr. Song. UCCC is a nationally recognized comprehensive cancer center that is expanding rapidly. If anyone is looking for additional treatment or a second opinion, I would highly recommend checking them out. Look on their website for information about the clinical trial.

Myka