Column: Advice from Cancer Survivors: Research, Persistence and Second Opinions

In the fall of 2022, Drs. Robin Clough and Gene Dorio are continuing to live as they have for years, serving seniors in the Santa Clarita Valley.Clough was busy working as an administrator at a local senior center; doriois a house-call geriatrician who travels across the valley to visit his patients.

That November, Clough noticed a lump on her neck and had it checked out. Early signs suggested she had papillary thyroid cancer.

Clough said she was a little concerned, but not overly so, because she knew this type of cancer was treatable and had a high survival rate. So in the back of my mind, I was like, oh, I’m so lucky. ….This is the easiest type of cancer to treat.

Then things took a turn for the worse. “I noticed it had grown a lot,” Clough, 70, said of the lump. I have trouble speaking.

Surgery has been scheduled. Dorio, 72, said it was expected to take about three hours to remove the tumor and half of Krause’s thyroid. But the process has been delayed again and again. When the surgeon briefed Dorio nine hours later, the news was grim. The tumor had spread through the thyroid to the carotid artery and into the tracheal ring.

Dorio said he told me it was everywhere.

Tests revealed that Clough had anaplastic thyroid cancer, a more aggressive form of cancer than papillary carcinoma.

We all know that our fortunes can change without much warning, especially as we age and the odds mount, and the threat of our bodies weakening and our minds fading increases. But in just a few weeks, Clough and Dolio went from swimming in life to staring death in the face.

For the type of cancer she had, life expectancy is usually measured in months rather than years. “It was so hard to process, I think my brain stopped me from processing it because it was so overwhelming,” Clough said.

They fell in love with each other after getting married and divorced about 20 years ago. Dorio has a daughter named Jenny. Clough has two daughters, Katie and Amy. Dolio-Clough’s courtship and the blending of the two families began when he gave her a flu shot at her senior center. He then invited her to appear on the local radio show “The Senior Hour.”

They have never married and still see no need for it.

“We are harmonious, love each other, have common interests and fight for people’s rights,” Dolio said. Together with Clough, promote legislation Signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, it gives families greater authority to make medical decisions for their loved ones, even in the absence of an advance directive. Dorio also served on the Los Angeles County Council on the Elderly.

In the face of her grim diagnosis, Clough and Dolio relied on each other and on Jenny, Katie, Amy and their godparents Susan and Tony. Weekly Zoom meetings are held to lift spirits and share information about emerging treatments.

I’ve gotten to know Dolio a little bit over the years; Follow his door-to-door visits, so I received regular updates on Klaus’s status that he mailed to friends and family. She exceeded the three- to six-month prediction, and in July 2023, Dorio wrote to say that she was doing better but still had a long way to go.

At that time, she had been undergoing chemotherapy and radiation therapy for seven consecutive weeks, and the skin on her neck was burned by the latter. The metastatic disease was surgically removed from her leg. On the recommendation of Cedars-Sinai, Dorio took Clough to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

To all our friends and family, Dorio wrote in a July update that no matter what the diagnosis is, it’s important to seek a second opinion and keep researching and asking questions of your doctor’s team. It’s a physical and emotional rollercoaster. But we had a lot of support from our families and a lot of people in the community. We will provide assistance and guidance should you need it in the future.

In Houston, medical staff asked Clough about her family history. Clough said this cancer is primarily caused by radiation, and the first thing they asked me was where did you grow up?

Her answer was Arizona, Disadvantages of nuclear weapons test explosions Water contamination, soil and food sources near Nevada suffered from years of contamination in the 1920s, 1940s and 1950s.

I asked Clough if he had seen the Oscar-winning film “Oppenheimer,” about the creation of one of the first nuclear weapons.

I won’t watch, she said firmly.

It’s impossible to directly link Krause’s cancer to weapons testing, but the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports People exposed to radioactive falloutEspecially during childhood, it may increase your risk of developing thyroid disease, including thyroid cancer, years later.

Oncologists Alain Mita of Cedars-Sinai and Maria Cabanillas of MD Anderson, who had previously collaborated on patients with anaplastic thyroid cancer, determined that Cloughs-type cancer required treatment with Keytruda, a drug that stimulates the immune system.

But after several months of treatment that showed some promise, the cancer began to grow again. In late December, Kraves’ doctors switched to a drug called Retevmo, a targeted therapy that blocks the drivers of tumor growth.

The hopeful Dolio recalls that during one 2017 blog post, He writes that genetic engineering research is on the verge of finding a DNA stop button for cancer cell growth. Hopefully, he adds, one day our great-grandchildren will ask what is cancer?

After a month of taking Retevmo, Clough had to stop the drug due to adverse side effects on his liver. But new scans revealed what she thought was a miracle.

The cancer is gone.

Two months later, she took another test.

No cancer.

Currently, her cancer is undetectable and she is in remission. Dr. Mita told me that this is very unusual for anaplastic cancer.

That doesn’t mean the cancer won’t come back, he said. But for now, there are reasons to be optimistic.

Mita said that 10 years ago, he could not have predicted such success in the fight against such an aggressive cancer, and he hopes medical science will make more progress in the coming years. For some cancers, doctors can now skip chemotherapy and radiation and instead use the drugs used to treat Claver, he said.

Cabanilas also expressed his optimism, saying survival rates for some forms of anaplastic thyroid cancer at MD Anderson have improved through the use of immunotherapy combined with targeted therapies.

A few days ago, in her kitchen, where the girls’ college diplomas and family photos hung on the wall, Clough said it was all overwhelming at times, and Dorio expressed his own concerns and the need for her. Stay strong in your determination. Clough’s life was consumed by doctor’s visits, surgeries, the constant unpleasant side effects of treatments and the constant anxiety of waiting for the results of his next test.

“I never felt like it was too much,” Clough said. Sometimes I think, I’m tired of this. But it was never too much and I think that was because of the people I loved.

Meanwhile, Dolio put his practice on hold to focus on the patients who came to him while living in his own home. He has also been postponing hip replacement surgery and uses crutches.

Clough said it helps when you’re facing a life-threatening medical crisis to have someone living with you who is a doctor. She said she never felt like she could completely beat cancer, but I could control it. I still hold out hope. Every day is a bonus, she said.

Clough shed a few tears but smiled broadly as he told his story.

I should have left, but I didn’t. So every day is wow, you know? I got to meet my daughters, and in the process I had my first grandchild.

The baby boy is now 11 months old.

His name is Robin.

steve.lopez@latimes.com