Drew Griffin’s Immunotherapy Story

On October 24, 2012, I was leading a political campaign sign wave event at a busy intersection with a bunch of volunteers. While I was excited about the involvement, I felt lethargic, tired, and weak, but I pushed through because later that evening I had a meeting to facilitate.

A few hours after the sign wave event, I was facilitating a volunteer meeting when I felt a sudden, sharp pain in my abdomen followed by overwhelming nausea and sickness. Throughout the night and into the morning, I found myself vomiting two to three times per hour until I finally agreed to be taken to the emergency room. I had been experiencing abdominal pain for months leading up this day, but previous emergency room visits gave me the impression I had irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). When my symptoms and answers to the attending doctors questions didn’t line up, x-rays were ordered and within an hour I was told a fist-sized tumor caused a collapsed colon. I had stage 3 cancer and needed emergency surgery.

While I was in the hospital recovering from the abdominal surgery, doctors noticed a thumb-sized lump on the right side of my throat, it was biopsied, and two weeks later I learned I also had stage 3 throat cancer.

I first heard about immunotherapy in 2015 when it was still in clinical trials for colorectal cancer, but unavailable to me because that therapy was not covered by Medicare at that time.

I started immunotherapy treatment in November 2017, after I had recovered from a series of hospital stays and tumor growth. My oncologist stated that immunotherapy was available and pembrolizumab (Keytruda®) had a good track record for patients with my mutated gene type.

I have been receiving immunotherapy for over two years and it has been amazing. Immunotherapy has helped me live a fairly normal life again and has allowed me to enjoy health as I once knew it. An unexpected bonus has been no side effects from treatment. Immunotherapy has given me my life back and I am making the most of the opportunity!

There is absolutely no comparing my immunotherapy experience with chemotherapy and radiation. Chemo strips away your health and made me sick and weak for weeks and months. Radiation for my throat cancer wiped out the taste buds in my mouth for nearly two years, and I still taste food differently than I once did.

Immunotherapy makes me feel almost as if I am no longer sick. I have the energy and strength to do anything I want and having the second chance to live my best life never goes without appreciation.

I didn’t realize that cancer would bring out the best in me. Cancer has taught me to be strong, empathetic, and understanding in so many ways. It has given me experiences that I would never have known about otherwise, as well as given me insights that I may not have received until years later in life. I am amazed every day that I live a happy and healthy life while managing a chronic illness thanks to advances in cancer treatment.

My experience and the experience of others I have met, who have undergone immunotherapy, has been positive. I think anyone who has cancer should inquire about the possibility and availability of immunotherapy in standard-of-care treatment or a clinical trial.