Fresno woman shares message of hope after being cancer-free

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Glenda Drake is embracing a 2nd accidental astatine beingness aft saying her goodbyes, and uncovering bid successful what she believed was her destiny... losing a conflict to cancer.

"I thought I would conscionable spell home, up there, but I didn't privation to permission my family," she said.

Instead, she woke up agleam and aboriginal connected Thursday morning, 7 months cancer-free, for a follow-up assignment with Dr. Omer Ilyas, who reviewed her caller trial results astatine the Community Cancer Institute successful Clovis.

"Everything looks good, you are cancer-free," Dr. Ilyas said

Drake reflected connected her challenging and miracle-like journey, dating backmost to October of 202,3 erstwhile she went to the exigency country for a crisp symptom but walked retired with a gut-wrenching diagnosis.

"The adjacent morning, they told maine I was afloat of cancer," Drake said.

"She had a precise circumstantial benignant of crab called a high-grade Neuroendocrine tumor and these are mostly precise aggressive," Dr. Ilyas said.

Dr. Ilyas says her lawsuit was precocious and tackled it head-on with chemotherapy and radiation.

EXCLUSIVE: Clovis pistillate responds good to revolutionary crab therapy

What helium did otherwise was adhd 2 treatments of immunotherapy, not knowing erstwhile oregon if it would marque a difference.

"In her tumor we recovered thing called an MSI High presumption and this allowed america to find that she would payment from immunotherapy," Dr. Ilyas said.

The immunotherapy inhibits the quality of the tumor to outsmart the immune system, allowing Drake's assemblage to combat the cancer, but the results were not immediate.

Drake went into hospice attraction successful October of 2024, surrounded by her husband, children, and loved ones. Counting each time arsenic a blessing.

Eight months later, she felt amended alternatively of worse and called Dr. Ilyas immediately.

A shocking but beauteous reunion.

"That was fun, that was truly fun. I was excited to astonishment him," Drake said.

"In the bottommost of my heart, I had a feeling that the immunotherapy conscionable took immoderate clip to footwear successful and eventually, it did enactment on with each the prayers she was getting from family," Dr. Ilyas said.

Dr. Ilyas hopes Drake's communicative volition animate doctors and patients to ne'er springiness up and instrumentality opportunities with caller treatments.

Drake appreciates Dr. Ilyas for his passionate dedication.

She hopes radical volition find her communicative an inspiration to unrecorded beingness with a afloat and hopeful heart, each azygous day.

"I admit each day. I admit my friends more. My household more," Drake said.

Dr. Ilyas says immunotherapy treatments bash not enactment for each crab patient, but does promote chap doctors to bash thorough investigating earlier ruling it out.

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