How Personalized Care and Relentless Hope Led to No Evidence of Disease

Bart W., 37, first suspected something was wrong in January 2020 when he experienced lower abdominal pain and blood in his stool. A colonoscopy revealed a large tumor blocking most of his colon, leading to emergency surgery that removed 90% of his colon. Shortly afterward, he was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer that had spread to his liver. Local oncologists offered little hope, telling Bart there was no cure and that he faced grim survival odds.

Refusing to accept those statistics, Bart sought treatment at MD Anderson. There, he met a dedicated care team, including liver surgeon Dr. Jean-Nicolas Vauthey and physician assistant Steven Wei. Together with oncologist Dr. Christine Parseghian, they developed a comprehensive plan that began with three cycles of FOLFOX chemotherapy (fluorouracil, oxaliplatin, and leucovorin). This treatment quickly shrank nearly 10 liver tumors, making Bart a candidate for a portal vein embolization procedure to expand the future liver remnant.

In May 2020, Dr. Vauthey performed an extended right hepatectomy to remove about 70% of Bart’s liver. Pathology confirmed that chemotherapy had eradicated all cancer cells, and subsequent CT scans showed no evidence of disease. Bart then completed four months of oral capecitabine as an adjuvant therapy.

By December 2020, Bart had finished all treatments. Nearly three years later, he remains cancer-free, grateful for the personalized care he received and cherishing every moment with his wife and two children in Oklahoma City.