"Hope for Wayne" - Stage 4 Glioblastoma Multiforme
May 2023 changed the course of our family forever. Our dad, Wayne Redlick, was diagnosed with a very aggressive brain cancer known as Stage 4 Glioblastoma Multiforme.
June 8, dad underwent emergency brain surgery at the UofA Hospital in Edmonton where 100% of the tumour was removed. Following a short recovery, dad was put into what the medical system refers to as “standard of care” whereby he received 6 weeks of chemoradiation (35 treatments in total) which was to be followed by 6 cycles of chemotherapy over the course of 6 months.
September 22, dad began chemotherapy and was able to make it through his first 2 cycles. Unfortunately he was unable to continue as his health began to quickly decline.
Late September until the end of November, our family encountered many emergency hospital visits (from home via ambulance) until dad was finally admitted into the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital on Monday, November 27 where he remains today. His decline came with getting weaker each day, eating and drinking less, very unstable on his feet and finally unable to walk and barely lift his arms and legs.
During this time, multiple CT Scans and MRI’s were performed showing a significant amount of brain swelling in the surgical cavity, however, inconclusive as to what was causing the swelling.
Wednesday, November 29, dad was air-ambulanced to the U of A Hospital where he had a PET Scan which determined that 2 new tumours were regrowing. Dad’s oncologist and neurosurgeon determined that operating again is necessary BUT it will not stop the cancer from continuing to grow aggressively and quickly.
Wednesday, December 13 dad is scheduled for surgery again at the UofA Hospital in Edmonton.
There is a very high probability that in this surgery some of the tumour(s) tissue will remain and will continue to spread. This leads us to our next and most likely hope of prolonging dad’s time with us…
The neurosurgeon will remove enough of the tumour(s) to proceed with a successfully proven immunotherapy treatment offered ONLY in the United Kingdom, known as Dendritic Call Vaccination or DCVax-L. DC-Vax-L is a personalized vaccine which is produced using the individuals tumour tissue. The treatment has shown good results in a recent Phase III trial.
How do we get this immunotherapy treatment?
Thanks to a lot of searching and inquiries, our family came to learn about this treatment. Unfortunately, though, it is not available in Canada. But it is widely known and encouraged by many Canadian investigators and the medical team members working with dad, including his neurosurgeon. They firmly believe that this is the only treatment that could help him at this point. We know of a gentleman, first hand, in Edmonton that is alive 8 years later as a result of the DCVax. He is only one of many success stories. Saying that, our family has made the decision to move forward with this procedure.
Following his upcoming surgery, dad will have a minimal amount of recovery time in Edmonton before he is on his way to the United Kingdom where they will manufacture this vaccine specifically to his cancerous cells. The challenges that will come with getting dad across the world are very time sensitive but our family will take this on, without question.
Why are we asking for help?
Each vaccine dosage costs $36,600 CA ($25,000 EUR) A minimum of 7 doses over 12 months are required to complete this treatment. All vaccines are administered in the United Kingdom Total medical cost alone will amount to $256,000 CA ($175,000 EUR)
If you know our dad, you will know that putting his family and good friends above himself has always been his way - it’s our time, as his family, to return that favour to him. Sadly, our family has walked this journey into Glioblastoma for 7 months, however we didn’t have an understanding of how aggressive this cancer is until now.
If your family has been touched by this cancer and is looking for alternatives, see these links.
