THE GUINEA PIG PERSPECTIVE
TODAY AT CHURCH a friend told me with an angry quiver in her voice that she’d been turned down for a clinical trial only hours before treatment was to begin.
SHE TOLD ME, I think, because for the past four years I’ve had to seek treatment in the world of clinical trials myself. (Clinical trials are experimental therapies.) It didn’t seem the right time to tell her I’ve been turned down for as many trials as I’ve been accepted for. It’s not easy to get over the pain and the anxiety she seemed to be trying to control.
TRIAGE IS SIGNIFICANT in being accepted for a trial. The pharmaceutical company, which is usually the sponsor, and the scientists working for it direct the effort from afar. They review baseline test results and treat only those with the greatest promise of success.
IT’S ENOUGH TO MAKE the patient forget that God is in charge.
MOST OF THE TIME THE PHYSICIAN who is in charge of administering the trial first delivers the bad news and then proceeds to urge the patient to pursue treatment as quickly as possible. Being told the obvious is part of what infuriates the patient. Seeking treatment was why he’d signed up for the trial to begin with.
TO THE SPONSOR AND THE PHYSICIAN, it’s not personal. The sponsor, which is footing the bill, treats whom it can and leaves the rest to God. But to the person being left, it IS personal. He or she has wasted time—and no small amount of hopeful expectation—only to be sent away. Usually without further options. (Trial-oriented physicians aren’t usually as informed as those who are treatment-oriented.)
IT’S NATURAL FOR THE PATIENT to feel bitter. I know this from firsthand experience. But, as a Christian, I have to do better than this. Bitterness will do ME more harm than it will do the pharmaceutical company or the researchers. Besides, I’ve been left to God. Isn’t that the best place to be?
CONSIDER THIS. Something needs to be done about cancer—and these men and women are trying to do it. But, progress is slow. It’s a one-sided match with the researchers in the loser’s corner more often than not.
THESE PEOPLE ARE THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST, dedicated to finding a way to save lives. And every single day they meet the worst sort of defeat. Year after year . . . and this is their life’s work.
FRANKLY, I COULDN’T DO IT, but I’m grateful that they can. Perhaps they will come closer to removing the horror of this disease from our lives. I hope they keep trying. I intend to keep praying that they are successful, and I hope you will join me.
You’re blessed. Be a blessing!
SHE TOLD ME, I think, because for the past four years I’ve had to seek treatment in the world of clinical trials myself. (Clinical trials are experimental therapies.) It didn’t seem the right time to tell her I’ve been turned down for as many trials as I’ve been accepted for. It’s not easy to get over the pain and the anxiety she seemed to be trying to control.
TRIAGE IS SIGNIFICANT in being accepted for a trial. The pharmaceutical company, which is usually the sponsor, and the scientists working for it direct the effort from afar. They review baseline test results and treat only those with the greatest promise of success.
IT’S ENOUGH TO MAKE the patient forget that God is in charge.
MOST OF THE TIME THE PHYSICIAN who is in charge of administering the trial first delivers the bad news and then proceeds to urge the patient to pursue treatment as quickly as possible. Being told the obvious is part of what infuriates the patient. Seeking treatment was why he’d signed up for the trial to begin with.
TO THE SPONSOR AND THE PHYSICIAN, it’s not personal. The sponsor, which is footing the bill, treats whom it can and leaves the rest to God. But to the person being left, it IS personal. He or she has wasted time—and no small amount of hopeful expectation—only to be sent away. Usually without further options. (Trial-oriented physicians aren’t usually as informed as those who are treatment-oriented.)
IT’S NATURAL FOR THE PATIENT to feel bitter. I know this from firsthand experience. But, as a Christian, I have to do better than this. Bitterness will do ME more harm than it will do the pharmaceutical company or the researchers. Besides, I’ve been left to God. Isn’t that the best place to be?
CONSIDER THIS. Something needs to be done about cancer—and these men and women are trying to do it. But, progress is slow. It’s a one-sided match with the researchers in the loser’s corner more often than not.
THESE PEOPLE ARE THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST, dedicated to finding a way to save lives. And every single day they meet the worst sort of defeat. Year after year . . . and this is their life’s work.
FRANKLY, I COULDN’T DO IT, but I’m grateful that they can. Perhaps they will come closer to removing the horror of this disease from our lives. I hope they keep trying. I intend to keep praying that they are successful, and I hope you will join me.
You’re blessed. Be a blessing!
posted by Chronic Hope at 5:49 PM
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