How a Clinical Trial Helped a Young Patient Overcome a Family Legacy of Lynch Syndrome

When 25-year-old theater professional Elizabeth C. collapsed at work, she never imagined it would reveal a life-threatening diagnosis. Although her family carried Lynch syndrome—a hereditary condition that raises the risk of various cancers—Elizabeth felt it was a distant concern. She had undergone periodic colonoscopies with benign polyp findings. However, after noticing unexplained weight loss and alarming bleeding episodes, doctors discovered advanced colon cancer. It was stage IV, with tumors in her colon’s outer walls and spread to her neck, breasts, abdomen, and even her knee and brain.

Elizabeth’s journey brought her to Mayo Clinic for multiple six-hour drives amid rough weather. Rapidly losing weight—down to 119 pounds on a 5’11” frame—she could barely keep food down. The physical toll of cancer and its treatments pushed her to the brink of exhaustion. Social media reminders of her friends’ thriving careers, engagements, and personal milestones intensified the emotional strain as she struggled to pause her dreams to survive an illness she never asked for.

In January 2015, doctors told Elizabeth she had only six weeks to live. Still, she and her father decided to try another trip—this time to the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. There, she learned about a clinical trial testing Keytruda (pembrolizumab), an immunotherapy drug best suited for patients with MSI-High (microsatellite instability-high) genetic mutations. Suffering from advanced metastases, Elizabeth began Keytruda in February 2015, rolling into the oncologist’s office in a wheelchair—exhausted, malnourished, and scarcely able to lift her head.

Within months, her condition turned around dramatically. Blood markers improved; she progressed from a wheelchair to crutches, and doctors observed the tumors shrinking. A year later, imaging showed no evidence of disease. Now eight years beyond her initial diagnosis, Elizabeth remains in full remission. She credits unwavering family support—rooted in a history that traces the “Cancer Catherine” lineage—and the timely clinical trial that essentially brought her back to life.