In January 2022, Tracey Kassman, then 64 years old, faced the reality that her life may be ending sooner than expected. She was diagnosed with glioblastoma after doctors uncovered a brain tumor. Glioblastoma has an average life expectancy of 12-18 months.
“I had sort of made peace with the idea that this is a terminal illness, but I also realized that there was a whole lot of other stuff that I wanted to do,” said Tracey.
Tracey underwent radiation and chemotherapy at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. Then, to her surprise, that April, she was presented with another option.
“Dr. Chinazom Ibegbu, who I adore by the way, said, ‘I think you would be a good candidate for this vaccine that we’re running trials on. Would you be interested in participating?’ And I was like, ‘Let’s see … It’s a really bad prognosis if I don’t do anything, so let’s just do everything we possibly can to try to make sure that I have more birthdays.”
And so, Tracey enrolled in the double-blind SurVaxM clinical trial. That was three years ago.
SurVaxM Brain Cancer Immunotherapy
SurVaxM is an immunotherapy for glioblastoma, a type of aggressive brain tumor. The new treatment option was created in a lab at Roswell Park by Dr. Robert Fenstermaker, Chair of Neurosurgery and Dr. Michael Ciesielski, Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery.
In 2024, SurVaxM received Fast-Track status from FDA. Funding from events like Ride for Roswell and Empire State Ride played a key role in getting these trials off the ground, which in turn benefits patients not only here in Buffalo, but now nationwide.
“When the opportunity came for me to have another way to extend my life, it was like I had to switch gears of, ‘I’m going to die right away’ to ‘Hey, maybe not,’ and I kind of liked that, ‘Hey, maybe not.’ I felt so lucky. I felt lucky to be here. I felt lucky to be surrounded by people who cared at Roswell Park. I still feel lucky.”
Life on the clinical trial
Since Tracey is on a blind clinical trial, she doesn’t know for sure if she’s getting the real medication or the placebo. But, she jokes, “I have my suspicions.”
Today, Tracey is focusing on life beyond being a patient. She’s diving into the things she loves; she completed a writing workshop, taken up water aerobics and is spending more time working in her garden and with her family.
“This treatment doesn’t interfere with any part of my life really, other than getting here two days every two months.”
Message to Roswell Park Fundraisers
Tracey believes supporting cancer research is more important now than ever before, and she is grateful to the people who dedicate their time and talents to raising funds for Roswell Park.
“The thing that makes Roswell Park so great is that they’re preeminent in the research field,” she added. “The reputation is great, but it’s only great because they care so much about the patients. Any effort that somebody wants to give, any money they want to raise or how many miles they want to ride has got to be fueled by that feeling that this is worthwhile. And of course it is.”
After all, Tracey is just one example of how worthwhile those efforts truly are.
For every dollar donated to Roswell Park directly or through events like the Ride, our experts are able to leverage an additional $23 from external grants for cancer research. This is thanks to the support of the Ride and the hard work of Roswell Park researchers.
“I don’t know of any other charity in Buffalo that’s as focused as Roswell Park is. That’s how you know that any money being raised is not wasted. It’s going to be used for patient support and staff support and research,” Tracey exclaimed. “That gives you a great feeling. They grew SurVaxM right here. It’s a homegrown thing. I’m all about that.”
The phase 2B randomized SURVIVE trial is currently underway with existing patients at Roswell Park and 10 other centers nationwide but is no longer recruiting new patients.
