Read Video Transcript
Frank: After going through this for three and a half, four years, already and I always heard about clinical trials. We had the opportunity to get in one and I figured it’d be time to take advantage of it because we were basically at a standstill.
Frank: I’m Frank Gambino, Joyce’s husband, this is my wife Joyce Gambino and we’ve been together for 57 years and we’re ready to take on anything. My wife has low-grade ovarian cancer which is different than a lot of other cancers where there’s just a tumor and you could go in there and take it out and hopefully, you’re clean.
Joyce: And you’re my caretaker.
Frank: Oh yeah, I get to do a lot of extra things now being that if she’s not feeling too well, or whatever it is like you know, washing clothes, washing dishes, doing a lot of the going to the store. All things I never used to do, but it gives you a good feeling to know that you’re doing it and you’re helping your wife because she’s going through a lot worse time than I’m going through.
Joyce: Well, I’ve had it (ovarian cancer) for four and a half years. I was diagnosed with it on Valentine’s Day 2019. I’ve had two surgeries since then, I’ve had 18 chemo treatments, and now being on the clinical trial it seems like it’s helping, where the chemo after a while was not doing much at all for it.
Frank: Basically, the pill that she’s on now, it seems to be working, you know we’re not at the end yet but it’s moving in the right direction. So right now, we have to stay with it. It’s very challenging because we’re in Naples, Florida and the clinical trial is up in Orlando, and a lot of times with road construction and everything else that’s going on right now, it used to be a three and a half/four-hour trip that turned into a five/five-and-a-half-hour trip. We are going up there twice a month, every two weeks, and we just got to the point now with the way everything’s working, where we’re going once a month for one or two days, basically one or two days again. I go with her all the time because after 57 years of being together, I think it’s my duty to do that, and if I’m a little inconvenienced, or I can’t golf on this day or that weekend or whatever the case may be, it’s a matter of priority. Why should she drive all the way up there for four hours/four and a half hours and by herself and I’m over here playing golf? Not right, and because of the clinical trial and people that I’m familiar with that have the same problem, it makes it a lot easier just to know that number one you’re not alone and there’s a lot of other people that you’re possibly helping by going through this.
To me it would be a big plus if you have an opportunity to get in one (clinical trial), I’d say go ahead and do it because we’ve came further now with the clinical trial than we did in the last three year/four years. Her cancer when she took the latest scan, I think, was down 55% so that’s a big that’s a big plus. We’re not changing our mind or quitting yet. All the things that you go through with this trial, and what you’ve learned from other people and who you could educate talking to other people and answering their questions of what you’re going through I think is a very big help because otherwise the average person you’re just in the dark and think you’re the only one there. I think this is a big help and I have no problem talking to anybody about it. Some people want to hide it and don’t talk about it, but let it out there! Let people know! And you’re helping somebody else. I also think that more doctors should be involved in the clinical trials. Administering the clinical trials, there could be more people getting on trials and you know hopefully finding a cure for the problem. I think that would be a benefit and if this helps, the sky’s the limit!
