On October 1, 2003 Nancy took her first dose of SU-11248 at Dana-Farber wher we met another kind doctor, Dr. Jeffrey Morgan.. Nancy was enrolled as patient # 78 in the Phase II trial under his care. We were very anxious that she might bleed again. We were also anxious that SU-11248 might not work. We lived for three months at Shannon's House in Brookline...a home away from home. Every third day we would be at Dana-Farber for tests or for management of some problem. Nancy had several episodes of anaphylactic shock. We still do not know the cause. Nancy was also was having nightly problems with her port-a-cath blocking which prevented her from getting TPN nourishment. She was loosing weight. Her ascites was getting worse. She had pleural fluid buildup. The fatigue was bone deep. We lost some friends who lived with us at Shannon's House. It was very discouraging.
We flew home for Christmas on December 23. In January Nancy found out that it had all been worth it. The SU-11248 was working. Dr. Morgan told us Nancy had up to 30% shrinkage. We began to shuttle back and forth to Boston every two to four weeks. This photo was taken in September, 2004 on a return trip to the beach in NC. That's a blue claw crab in her net. Crabbing therapy...highly recommended.