In 2017, Rosa “Rosie” Sanchez experienced pain in her abdomen. Though she saw several specialists, no one could seem to figure out what was wrong.
“I was having abdominal pain and was bloated,” said Rosie, a Scottsdale resident who has worked as a Spanish English interpreter and claims handler for a large insurance company. “They couldn’t figure out what was going on with me. My stomach looked like I was pregnant. I started getting fevers.”
Rosie finally found a doctor who conducted blood tests and used a CT scan to see that she had a liposarcoma, the most common type of soft tissue sarcoma, a cancer that arises from fatty tissues.
The tumor surgeons eventually removed weighed 30 pounds.
Rosie underwent radiation treatments in 2018, but the tumor came back in 2019. After her second surgery, the tumor returned again in 2020. This time, to get to the tumor, she also had one of her kidneys and her gall bladder removed.
“It wasn’t that the cancer spread to those organs,” Rosie said, “it was just so close to them that they couldn’t surgically remove the tumor without being able to remove the other organs as well.”
When the cancer again returned in 2022, it was determined that it was inoperable. She couldn’t have the cancer surgically removed without risking her other kidney. She again was gaining weight.
Rosie had always been very active, but this time she began gaining so much weight that she became immobile, barely able to walk and at times needing a wheelchair.
She was recommended for a clinical trial at HonorHealth Research Institute.
Under the care of Michael Gordon, M.D., the Research Institute’s Chief Medical Officer and an oncologist, Rosie began the Agenus clinical trial in October 2022.
As Rosie’s tumor began shrinking in 2023, she began losing weight and became more self-sufficient, and recently began her third year of her clinical trial: “I’m very grateful for that. I’m independent again. It feels great, it really does.”
She is grateful to Dr. Gordon and the rest of the Institute staff: “They’re like my angels.”
Today, Rosie’s prognosis is good. After two years on the study, she continues to have a positive response. She feels great and her quality of life has drastically improved.
“I recommend the Institute to everyone,” she said. “If they are looking for a last hope, they might find it there.”
