Brittany Hess is one of the great success stories at Lazarex. She has been courageously fighting an extremely rare soft tissue cancer called Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma (ASPS) since age 19 when she was diagnosed in July 2001 at Stage IV. Brittany continues to beat the odds by exceeding the typical efficacy of her medicine in clinical trials and as a vibrant young woman is leading as normal a life as possible with her dog and her boyfriend in the Seattle, Washington area.
According to Brittany's mother, Bonni, Brittany's November 2011 CT scans were stable and she has set a record for the longest sustained disease stability within her clinical trial. "We continue to be immensely grateful for the 30 months of disease stability and significant tumor shrinkage/disappearance that Cediranib has provided for Brittany, as well as everything that all of you (the Lazarex team members) have done and continue to do to make Brittany's continued participation in this clinical trial possible," Bonni said.
Brittany is experiencing side effects from the medicine, including diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, headache, insomnia, and memory problems. Yet, according to her mother, she endures with a bright outlook. "Brittany determinedly moves forward with her young life being as active as possible and living each day to the fullest with her usual great passion, positive attitude, bright spirit, and radiant smile," said Bonni.
"We now move forward into a new year on this challenging ten years and three months ASPS journey with much happiness and continued great hope in our hearts," says Bonni. "But we also continue our aggressive and relentless search, research, and networking with other ASPS patients/families for possible alternative treatments in the heartbreaking event that Brittany develops resistance to the Cediranib and experiences rebound and disease progression."
March 2012 Brittany Hess Update:
"On April 9th we will be joyously and victoriously CELEBRATING Brittany's HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY which we never thought would be possible when Brittany was diagnosed with ASPS ten and a half years ago and given six months to Live!!" Read the update here
