SELENA AVALOS
“ Everybody who participated in this study helped advance the standard of care ,” Dr . Wolfson said . “ The older medicine is no longer standard . It is now standard to give this new targeted medicine . And every patient who participated in that study made that possible .”
There are still plenty of benefits to a clinical trial , even if it does not work out directly for the patient involved . Selena Avalos is proof of that .
In 2019 , the day before Avalos was about to start her senior year at Lynn High School in Winston County , Ala ., she was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma . Within days , Avalos and her mother met with UAB Medicine pediatric hematologist-oncologist Julie Wolfson , M . D ., MSHS , to discuss the various treatment options available , including a clinical trial that was being offered through the O ’ Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center .
“ I told my mom that I wanted to do the trial , because that ’ s how you find out what works best for people ,” Avalos said .
Dr . Wolfson says the new medication was aimed more at reducing the side effects from traditional chemotherapy rather than improving the treatment outcome .
“ Hodgkin lymphoma in general is one of the cancers that we have very good success in treating ,” Dr . Wolfson said . “ The medication that had traditionally been used is one of the oldest and most effective drugs we ’ ve had for something like this . But we ’ ve always wanted to figure out how to replace it , because it had some significant side effects .”
Unfortunately , Avalos experienced a negative reaction to her initial treatment with the new therapy . Her stomach tightened almost immediately after receiving the drug , and she began having trouble breathing . “ It happened really fast ,” she recalled .
So , Avalos was taken off the experimental drug and instead went through regular chemotherapy . She was able to enjoy a relatively normal senior year of high school . “ After just my first few treatments , a lot of my cancer was already gone ,” Avalos said . “ Dr . Wolfson and the radiologist couldn ’ t believe how quickly it was working .”
Although Avalos ended up receiving traditional chemotherapy treatment , she remained part of the trial , and Dr . Wolfson says there was still significant value in following her progress .
“ She was on study but off protocol therapy ,” Dr . Wolfson said . “ Basically , this means we ’ re following the patient and she ’ s still contributing data , but we ’ re not using that study ’ s treatment anymore . But we ’ re still comparing the standard treatment to the newer treatment .”
Ultimately , the study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine . “ Everybody who participated in this study helped advance the standard of care ,” Dr . Wolfson said . “ The older medicine is no longer standard . It is now standard to give this new targeted medicine . And every patient who participated in that study made that possible .”
Avalos quickly went into remission without using the new treatment , yet she has no regrets about going through the clinical trial process . “ I ’ m still glad I tried it ,” Avalos said . “ If it wasn ’ t for people who are willing to take that step and see what happens , the doctors wouldn ’ t know the best route to go .” ❚■
ABOVE : Selena Avalos and her husband LEFT : Julie Wolfson , M . D ., MSHS ; and Avalos
40 | O ’ NEAL COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTER