(WZTV) – A Florida woman is the first patient to kill off breast cancer with the help of a promising new vaccine. Lee Mercker was diagnosed with a very early stage form of breast cancer. “You get your diagnosis and it’s devastating for all family members,” Mercker said.
Mercker went to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida to start treatment, but her doctor asked if she’d like to try something else first: An experimental vaccine that aims to fight off early-stage breast cancer and prevent future occurrence. “The treatment is a series of vaccines, three in your arm, two weeks apart, four times,” Mecker said. To the thrill of everyone involved in this medical trial, it worked.
A potential game-changer. Success in their first human patient with the shots. Mercker says she feels like she walked on the moon. Then Mercker underwent a double mastectomy to increase her odds. Her doctor says the mastectomy is needed because scientists will use it to study how the vaccine is working in the breast tissue. The Mayo Clinic also needs more participants to know for sure whether the vaccine will work on a wider population of breast cancer patients. READ MORE
