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CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) -- For the archetypal time, a imaginable crab cure is being offered present successful Central California.
Action News had exclusive entree arsenic the archetypal diligent received the groundbreaking attraction astatine Clovis Community Medical Center.
More than a twelve radical crowded into a tiny country astatine Clovis Community Medical Center, with others spilling retired into the hallway.
Some recorded connected their phones, others arched their necks successful hopes of witnessing past successful the making.
All eyes connected Christine Quintero and her attraction team, arsenic she received what could beryllium a cure to her cancer.
By the clip we met Christine past month, she'd been battling the illness for good implicit a twelvemonth and a half. Her symptoms started with exhaustion and sporadic fevers.
"What happened was, I would person fever astatine night, I would get up successful the greeting it would beryllium gone," said Christine Quintero, crab patient. "So I would beryllium like, Okay, I'm gonna work. So I would enactment passim the day. And then, you know, not knowing I was gonna get fever again, and astatine night, aforesaid thing, fever came back. And that happened, similar 3 weeks successful a row."
Severe value loss, antibiotics, and aggregate infirmary stays implicit 2 months gave mode to a diagnosis.
"They came backmost and they told maine I had cancer," said Quintero. "I didn't cognize what benignant of crab it was, and astatine that constituent successful my life, I didn't truly care, due to the fact that I was truthful sick."
Her squad astatine the Community Cancer Institute astatine Clovis Community attacked her Large B-cell lymphoma for months with chemo and radiation.
What was erstwhile an orange-sized tumor shrank to the size of a lime.
Then came talks of Chimeric Antigen Receptor oregon CAR T-cell therapy.
"So this caller immunotherapy offers an accidental for these patients to person a bully effect and perchance cure," said Dr. Haifaa Abdulhaq, UCSF Director of Hematology. "This immunotherapy is offered presently successful lone world centers, and we've ne'er had it successful the Central Valley."
The therapy usually takes 30 days of inpatient and outpatient care. It wasn't offered astatine the institute oregon immoderate section hospital.
"I was reasoning that was going to beryllium an expense, you know, if my hubby went, helium would person to beryllium retired of work, and past my kids going up determination to spot me, you know, I conscionable thought each astir it," said Quintero. "I conscionable didn't privation to go."
But her attraction squad had nary volition of sending her away; they were bringing the attraction to Christine.
First, they took achromatic humor cells, including T-cells, from Christine. Those cells were sent disconnected to a laboratory to person a caller cistron introduced to them truthful they could amended observe and termination cancerous cells.
Then the cells were returned and infused backmost into Christine.
She's conscionable the beginning.
"We volition beryllium moving connected having nationalist accreditation truthful this halfway tin service each the colonisation successful the Central Valley," said Dr. Abdulhaq.
For Central California, it's revolutionary; for Christine, it's her life.
"I cognize that, you know, this is going to beryllium the extremity of my journey, wherever I cognize that I'm going to beryllium wholly healed," said Christine.
The crab institute needs to dainty 5 patients earlier it tin use for accreditation. The extremity is to bash that wrong a year.
As for Christine, we're told she's doing well.
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