Cody Insley Campbell----Multiple Myeloma

BCMA CAR-T worked extremely well for a multiple myeloma patient from Canada, and was described by the patient as unprecedented in more than a decade of illness.

7 weeks in China. If you’d asked me 15 years ago where my life would be today, not in a million years would I have guessed that I’d be cruising Facebook while relaxing on a hotel bed in Shanghai, China. After a huge, amazing meal Kelsey Campbell and I are discussing how to spend our last day here in China as we make our way home after 7 weeks of intense treatment and care. 

We took a risk coming here for treatment, not speaking the language, understanding the culture or really knowing much of anything about China. Given the limited options in Canada, we felt our choices were pretty limited. 

It’s often said that with great risk comes great reward. As this latest scan will attest, we are very happy we took that risk and we were rewarded with elation the first time we looked at it. I have never had results like this in 11 years of treatment and this is after just 30 days! I am feeling amazing physically, although very tired and I can definitely feel that my body has been through a battle. The doctors keep reminding me to not get ahead of myself as it’s very important to relax and chill out. It’s like they know me and my terrible habit of “let’s just get it done” and I go and wear myself out and create a bunch of problems.  

Are we out of the woods yet? No, not yet and I’ll continue to live a life focused on the day-to-day but for the first time I feel that instead of being deep in the dark woods with nowhere to turn, I might just be on the edge of the trees enjoying the shade.

Before 

After

I feel so very lucky and blessed to have gone through this process. I realize it would have never been possible without everybody’s (and I mean everybody's) support. 

For all of those people out there facing challenges or finding yourself at the crossroads of a difficult decision, my advice to you is scribbled on t-shirts in store windows all over the place, just do it! Go for it and take that risk because you just never know where it might take you. We were rewarded with great results along with compassionate care from a great team of nurses, and very educated and intelligent diagnostics from the team of Doctors at a pretty special facility. We also had a wonderful cultural experience and although we didn’t see as much of the country as we would have liked, the parts we did experience led to a completely different perspective on a country, culture and society. 

— Cody Insley Campbell