Dan's Cancer Vaccine

My brother Dan’s wedding in November 2021 was incredible. It was the first time my kids travelled to Puerto Rico. Old San Juan was the perfect setting. The festive yet quaint and rustic vibe perfectly complimented Dan and Giselle’s ceremony in a historic cathedral. We all laughed and cried and danced the night away. We will always have great memories of that night.

Unfortunately, within weeks of the festivities, Dan was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. First, he underwent chemotherapy that made him feel extremely sick but did nothing to stop the growth of his tumor. Then his doctors changed his treatment to chemotherapy that effectively shrunk his tumor. Eventually, Dan had surgery to remove the tumor but not before receiving radiation and encountering several complications. These complications necessitated multiple liver surgeries to place and revise a shunt; episodes of extreme confusion and incoherence due to elevated ammonia levels; and numerous emergency room visits for pulmonary embolisms.

When Dan eventually had the pancreas surgery in August of 2022, the doctors removed a portion of his pancreas along with his spleen and local lymph nodes. The results were promising, and we even started spreading the word to everyone who supported him along the way. The doctors were saying Dan was “cancer free!”

But only a short week later the doctors found another tumor, this time on Dan’s liver. The pancreatic cancer had spread. Dan knew the drill. He buckled down and resumed chemo until he could get radiation. Again, there were complications and emergency room visits including a surgery to remove a hernia resulting from his prior surgery. Finally, the doctors were able to destroy the tumor on Dan’s liver with radiation.

It's almost been two years since Dan was diagnosed in December of 2021. Although he does not have an active tumor, he does still have elevated tumor markers in his bloodwork. He is still getting chemotherapy regularly to keep the cancer at bay and prevent the formation of another tumor. The cost of constant chemotherapy is Dan’s quality of life. He cannot sleep because of constant muscle aches. After each treatment, he feels like he has the flu. He has lost all of his hair and is 40 pounds lighter than when he started this fight. His fingernails and toenails are brittle and on the verge of falling off. He has numbness in his feet and hands. The conundrum he finds himself in is that chemotherapy is not sustainable, but stopping the chemotherapy and allow a tumor to resurface is not a viable option either.

There is a very hopeful third option though. I found out about it when I went with Dan to try to get him into a clinical trial for a vaccine. You read that correctly, a vaccine for pancreatic cancer. If Dan were able to get such a vaccine and it turned out to be effective, he could stop chemotherapy. If a tumor attempted to resurface at that juncture, an effective vaccine would enable his immune system to kill the tumor and he would remain cancer free. Dan has tried to get into several clinical trials for this type of vaccine. So far, he has not had any luck because the waiting lists are long and he is disqualified from most of them due to his medical history. For example, he would be disqualified from any trial that only accepted patients with cancer that has not spread.

Here's what got my attention at that visit regarding a clinical trail, though. The doctor we spoke with was amazing and tried to give us as much information as possible. One of the things he mentioned is that Dan could get one of these vaccines without getting into a trial. He would just have to pay out of pocket for the vaccine. The cost would be around $80,000. I encouraged Dan to immediately start the process. If he got to the point where it seemed like a viable option and he had to put up some money, then we would have a fundraiser and make it happen.

Dan did just that. He hooked up with the JLF (Jaime Leandro Foundation). They coordinated with xCures who sells the vaccine along with the company that manufacturers the vaccine. They gathered Dan’s medical information and sent a portion of his prior tumor for whole exome sequencing. He recently got notice that the sequencing is almost complete. When the sequencing is complete, Dan will have to pay $20,000 for xCures to design the vaccine specifically for his cancer. [UPDATE: This stage is complete as of 6/17/23.] When the vaccine is designed, Dan will have to pay another $50,000 for the vaccine to be manufactured. Finally, when the vaccine is ready, Dan will have to pay another $12,000 for administration of the vaccine and monitoring. He would receive about 6 doses over the course of 6 months.

$82,000 is a lot of money, especially for one person. But spread out over 500 or 1000 people it is certainly attainable. Dan is 38 years old. He bravely served his country as an enlisted soldier in the US Army. He was deployed to Iraq where he was constantly exposed to the noxious fumes from burn pits. He is newly married. He has his entire life ahead of him. Continuing chemotherapy while attempting to get into clinical trails with long waiting lists and strict criteria is not a viable option. He needs a solution now. I’ve reminded Dan many times throughout his fight, it’s not what you do, it’s how you do it. Dan has faced this fight like a true warrior. It is said that toughness is not about avoiding getting knocked down, it’s about getting back up over and over again. Dan does that every single day. This is our opportunity to fight with him.

I am eternally grateful to everyone who has supported Dan in different ways thus far. Thank you for taking the time to read Dan’s story and for considering a contribution to help with the cost of his vaccine. Please also consider helping us spread the word. Thank you!