Nearly 40 years ago, scientists had what seemed like a crazy idea: What if we could reprogram cancer patients’ immune systems to wipe out their disease?
It turns out the idea wasn’t so crazy.
Stephanie Florence is living proof of that. She was 34 when she was diagnosed with a kind of blood cancer that is considered incurable. After fighting the disease for nine years, she was out of options. So she signed up for a clinical trial of an experimental cancer treatment called CAR T immunotherapy.
“I received my infusion on July 2,” Florence told GeekWire, recalling the life-changing treatment she received in 2015. “I had a scan on July 30 and I was supposed to find out the next day, but they called me that evening and told me that it was clear. That it was totally clear. I was in remission.”
