Finding the RIGHT Medicine Clinical trials are a lot more common in the Roanoke Valley than you might imagine. Hospitals, clinics and other health organizations are on the lookout for better medications all the time. That can be good news for patients who volunteer. LISA MCDANIEL THOUGHT the cancer was gone. She knew there was a chance it would return, but life was smooth. Six rounds of chemotherapy beginning in 2007 and a double mastectomy for her breast cancer seemed to have worked their magic. Then, in 2013 cancer returned and it had spread to in her bones. It was time for something a little more radical. McDaniel was asked if she would be willing to take part in a clinical trial for a new medication whose goal was to improve standard treatment on her con- STORY AND PHOTOS BY DAN SMITH dition. The medication was not completely proven at that point, but it was promising enough to have moved into human trials. "At the time, I thought it was the best option," says McDaniel today. "Combining the new drug with the drugs I was taking was a game changer. I actually went to Duke [Hospital in Durham, North Carolina] for a second opinion and Dr. Kimberly Blackwell, who is a worldrenowned radiation oncologist, strongly recommended the [trial] and said she couldn't offer that option. She said she wished she could." 92 | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2016 THEROANOKER.COM