Commitment is a Key Ingredient for Mesothelioma Treatment

• Lisa Hyde-Barrett
• Nurse's Corner, Treatments

Having been involved with the mesothelioma community for many years, one of the defining qualities of this community is the commitment of the team. The team the patients and their families meet and the ones they never meet. Researchers have committed themselves and their careers to finding treatments for this highly complex disease for decades.

What makes a researcher continue to dedicate themselves to this challenge? Progress comes slowly and not without setbacks. Often one of the answers we receive is the stories of the patients and their families. 

The passion that clinicians have for the patients affected by this disease does not waiver. Over the decades, through success and failures, they continue to work tirelessly toward a cure.

Teamwork, collaboration, and sharing have evolved over the years. Research has brought the community closer and benefitted patients. Because the patients are involved in the mesothelioma community, their passion feeds the researchers.

When talking with a researcher, they were excited about how they were taking a study that was done, looking at it with a different approach, and now we’re adding to it. This researcher was excited about the opportunity. A young researcher worked for a couple of years in the lab. Their enthusiasm was palpable.

Another long-term mesothelioma expert spoke passionately about the progress made in their career and how the treatment has been refined. The options for treatment had become specialized. Options that when they started their careers were ideas for Clinical Trials have now been proven and are a regular part of treatment options.

None of this has been easy. The road to progress in treatments of malignant mesothelioma has been long. The scientific process is strict, with results needing to be replicated independently. The science is the steam behind the engine, but the engine is the person.

Recently, while visiting a patient staying in a local hotel, he told me his weekend schedule. I was taken back. He had reconstructive surgery, where his mesothelioma returned. This was not going to interrupt the list of things he wanted to do for him. He was going to an NBA game, and the following day, he would cross the state line to check out a casino. When I told the surgeon on Monday, he could not have been more elated. This kind of approach is why the mesothelioma team does what it does. They want people to live their lives the way they choose to.

Thank you for the years of dedication and perseverance to the many scientists behind the scenes working towards a cure for malignant mesothelioma.