Turned away from five clinical trials, a cancer patient waits for one that will take him
It’s hard enough for any cancer patient to get into clinical trials. It’s even harder for a patient with a rare cancer like Todd Mercer.
Mercer, a 52-year-old defense industry professional, lives in Michigan with his wife and their two teenagers. At age 50, Mercer got a colonoscopy, as is recommended for people his age, and received a clean bill of health. Six weeks later, his appendix burst.
The diagnosis, which came in December 2017, was cancer of the appendix. It was the tumor that had ruptured his appendix — just beyond the reach of the endoscopic exam — meaning his cancer was effectively stage 4 at diagnosis. Mercer’s cancer has since spread to his liver and lungs.
Mercer first started looking for clinical trials in November 2018, after his cancer recurred for the first time. Since then, he’s been turned down from five studies, and is now trying to get into a sixth.
Mercer recently called in to STAT’s podcast The Readout LOUD to talk about his experience hunting for a trial that will be willing to take him. It’s an experience that’s frustratingly familiar in a system in which only about one-seventh of adult cancer patients who are eligible to enroll in clinical trials
