New cancer treatment helps get patient ‘back to normal’ at Brampton Civic Hospital
Published April 25, 2024 at 4:06 pm
A retired carpenter says he’s got his life back thanks in part to a new type of cancer treatment offered at only a few community hospitals in the country, including Brampton Civic.
The treatment is called bi-specific T-cell engager anti-cancer therapy, or BsAbs for short, and can be used to treat types of blood cancer by triggering T cells to attack the cancer.
That’s what Dr. Philip Kuruvilla, chief of Hematology with Osler, used to treat 61-year-old Anthony Turner’s multiple myeloma, according to Osler’s latest Doctors Making a Difference feature.
Multiple myeloma is a type of blood cancer that forms in plasma cells in the bone marrow.
Turner was diagnosed with the cancer years ago but began the BsAbs treatment in 2023 after he began experiencing pain that was severely impacting his quality of life.
Osler said at the time he was “quite sick and was in and out of hospital.”
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Fast forward to now and Turner says the treatment helped him “get back to normal living and doing the things I love to do.”
“I feel great,” Turner said of the treatment. “I now walk most mornings at the mall, I can drive and run errands, and cook at home. While I still experience some pain, it’s manageable.”
Osler says BsAbs treatment is usually only administered at certain academic hospitals, but the health system says the treatment is currently available to Osler patients with multiple myeloma “who have exhausted all other lines of therapy and treatment.”
Kuruvilla said working with advances in hematological cancer treatments like BsAbs so patients can “regain the lives they had to put on pause due to their cancer diagnosis” is one of the most rewarding parts of the job.
“The whole goal of treatment is to allow them to live their lives free of disease as much as is possible, and for me that’s really gratifying to see,” Kuruvilla said.
With Osler anticipating that the number of cancer cases in its communities is expected to double by 2038, the health system says the work of its oncology and cancer care teams will be in higher demand
In 2022, the province has committed to helping fund a new $365-million cancer treatment centre in Brampton. The new centre will be part of the Brampton Civic Hospital campus and is in addition to the Peel Memorial Urgent Care Centre expansion, which has also seen renewed funding commitments from the province.
The combined cost of both projects is an estimated $1.1 billion, with the City of Brampton and Osler required to fund a local share of $250 million.
– With files from the William Osler Health System
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