Hi, everyone! I’m starting this Go Fund Me in hopes of helping my dad, Robert “Bo” Sexton, and raise funds for his journey on becoming brain cancer-free.
My dad is currently undergoing an alternative brain cancer treatment in London, called DCVax, which is made by Northwest Biotherapeutics. DCVax is a personalized vaccine, given in a series of injections, that uses the patient’s own tumor tissue and dendritic cells to attack the cancer. Over the course of the next 18 months, he will travel back and forth to London for treatment, which is costly in itself, but the cost of manufacturing and administering the vaccine is well over $200,000.
He wasn’t too keen on the idea of seeking help from family, friends, peers, and possible strangers, but as his son, I think it’s important to share his story and help him in any way that I can. I consider my dad to be a very generous and giving person, always helping people in need. Whether he’s buying food for a stranger, donating to a cause, raising money for others, or attempting to donate his kidney to a friend, he always steps up to help people and I’m hoping we can do the same for him.
How we got here: In April of 2022, my dad was helping his wife move her late mother’s belongings when he had a “fortunate” fall. He went to the emergency room, received 24 stitches in his head, and underwent a CT scan, where the doctors quickly discovered a brain tumor in his frontal lobe.
On July 22nd, 2022, he had a craniotomy procedure at UNC Chapel Hill to extract the tumor.
Due to our family’s medical history and having seen loved ones go through chemotherapy and radiation for brain tumors, my dad was hesitant when it came to traditional cancer treatments. Understandably so, he wanted to explore alternative treatment options that were more forgiving on the body. As a precaution, an alternative treatment plan was put into place before his craniotomy. If the tumor was determined to be cancerous, the hospital was to move forward with this alternate plan, which essentially consisted of preserving the tumor in sub-zero temperatures and sending it to a company called, Northwest Biotherapeutics (NW Bio).
His biopsy results came back a few weeks later, where we learned he had a Grade 3 Oligodendroglioma, which is the highest grade for this type of cancerous brain tumor.
Upon diagnosis, the pathologist informed us that they weren’t able to preserve enough of the tumor needed for the alternative treatment plan. We were then told that he had 3 months to live if he didn’t start chemotherapy and radiation treatment immediately.
My dad was adamant about the alternative treatment plan, so he took a chance and waited for the tumor to grow back in order to start the process all over again.
He had a second craniotomy on November 2nd, 2023 at the Jacksonville Mayo Clinic to extract the regrown tumor, which was a success. The doctors were able to preserve the tumor and send it off to NW Bio in the UK.
The road ahead: He started his treatment with NW Bio in February 2024. The daunting procedure began with an apheresis at Kings College where his blood is run through a machine for four hours and his cells are collected and subsequently cultured into the dendritic cells. The pre-procedure testing required him to be in London for two weeks. The vaccine is currently being manufactured, and soon he will return to London for three weeks to receive his first three injections. He will need to have a friend or family member accompany him as post surgical healing is still occurring and he is in unfamiliar territory.
He will return to London several more times to receive the full series of vaccines, depending on how many are able to be made from his tumor tissue. This will entail six round trip airfares for two people and a place to stay each time.
He is feeling incredibly optimistic after hearing the survival stories of the DCVax patients who have received this treatment. A story was recently posted about a person who had a 14 cm tumor and is doing well after having received a scan after 6 DCVax injections.
On behalf of my father, our family, and his friends and neighbors who love and appreciate him and all that he does for others, we would be grateful for any donation that you are able to make, large or small, to enable him to have a chance to survive this dreaded disease. If you knew him, you would love him like we all do. From all of us, we send our love and gratitude for reading about his brain cancer journey, and quest to obtain the long and healthy survival via the promising DCVax personalized dendritic cell vaccine therapy. God bless you.
