Globe: Braintree Father Builds Drug Company To Battle Son's Cancer
BOSTON (CBS) - A Braintree father whose son was battling neuroblastoma, an especially dangerous form of childhood cancer, teamed with a doctor and some high-powered help to create a drug company dedicated to saving the lives of children.
In 2004, Pat and Dina Lacey's six-month-old baby Will was discovered to have a tumor the size of a baseball in his chest.
When Will relapsed at the age of two, the Laceys were told to focus on his quality of life. "Quality of life means how do you want your child to die?" Pat Lacey said in an interview with The Boston Globe.
But the Laceys were not going to give up hope. The Boston Globe and reporter Billy Baker spent two years with them as they fought to give Will a healthy life.
"This is a story of a family as many do, who decided to step over that line into uncharted territories, new treatments, new therapies, finding weapons that might save their child," Baker said.
The Laceys found their hero, Dr. Giselle Sholler, who'd spent years researching neuroblastoma.
"Every doctor I met I told Will's story they all kind of shook their heads and said 'Yeah I understand. He's incurable.' And when I told Dr. Sholler my story, she said, 'Well wait why is he incurable?'" Lacey said.
Sholler started an experimental treatment of a drug called DFMO which showed amazing results in keeping neuroblastoma patients from relapsing.
"But the drug company we were working with decided they didn't want to provide that drug to us anymore," Lacey said. "We were devastated."
So in just three months, Lacey led an effort to find a new supply raising millions of dollars to make this drug for neuroblastoma patients.
"We had to look at our options. There was only one. Not sure it's ever been done before. It was seemingly impossible, and that was starting your own drug company," Lacey said.
Now with the help of that drug, Will is 13-years-old and his cancer is in remission.
The Boston Globe's five-part series "The Power Of Will" starts Sunday and runs all next week. CLICK HERE to read it online.
For more information or to donate, visit BeatNB.org.
