For more than a decade Cleveland Clinic breast cancer researcher, Dr. Vincent Tuohy has been working on a breast cancer vaccine.
Cleveland Clinic will open a phase one study in mid-2019 of a preventative breast cancer vaccine for women with triple negative breast cancer.
Recently Dr. Tuohy spoke with Senior Health Correspondent Monica Robins about his research and roadblocks he still faces. Watch in the player below
To learn more about Dr. Tuohy’s research, click here
In 2010 he won an Innovation Award for his work
Meanwhile in Jacksonville, researchers at the Mayo Clinic are starting a similar vaccine trial. Doctors say they are very excited because early results indicate it seems to be working with few negative side effects. The problem is, reports show less than 5 percent of adults with cancer enroll in clinical trials or studies.
That's why Stacy Hanson, a Jacksonville woman battling triple negative breast cancer, is pushing more cancer patients to get involved. She believes it would help doctors make strides that would save future generations, like her daughter Lucy.
"She owns this house, that's for sure," Hanson said about her daughter.
Photos and artwork of Lucy can be found all over her home. Hanson calls her daughter her miracle child.
"I was 43 when I found out I was pregnant," Hanson said.
Two years after Lucy was born, Hanson found out she had breast cancer. After beating it once, it came back as Stage 4 triple negative metastatic breast cancer.
"I was scared to death," Hanson said. "My daughter was 5-years-old and I didn't think I would make it to see her start kindergarten."
Turns out, Hanson's father had the breast cancer gene, but Hanson was the only one of her siblings to get it.
"My mom tested negative, my brother and my sister tested negative," Hanson said. "It means the only one at risk in my family now is my daughter, Lucy. "
For Lucy, there could be hope. Right now, the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville has a clinical trial for a triple negative breast cancer vaccine.
"So the idea is similar to vaccination against infection, so you know, measles, influenza," said Dr. Saranya Chumsri.
Chumsri says the vaccine helps the body's immune system prevent cancer from coming back.
"It's for patients who already had breast cancer but, early stage, and the tumor has already been resected," Chumsri said. "Then we will vaccinate the patient to help reduce the risk of recurrence."
"We need clinic trials, and we need participants," Hanson said.
Since Hanson is already at the last stage of cancer, this vaccine wouldn't work for her. Still, that's not why she's advocating for it.
"Yes, I hope that in my lifetime, science catches up and I get 40, 50 years," Hanson said, "I want that for myself. But more importantly, I want my daughter to have a life without cancer. I don't want her to ever have to worry about cancer."
Hanson is under a different clinical trial and right now, she says her tumor is about the size of a grain of rice.
Mayo Clinic has several other breast cancer vaccines in clinical trial, along with over 300 clinical trials for other types of cancer. To learn about enrolling, you can call 855-776-0015. To learn about non-cancer clinical trials, you can call 800-664-4542. You can also click here.