Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Fall 2016 Newsletter

Fall 2016

With you on our side, we’re getting closer to Conquering Cancer In Our Lifetime.

Trent Krajaefski’s unexpected cancer diagnosis left him fearful of losing everything and everyone he holds dear, including his wife Sarah. But now he knows just how powerful the urge to conquer cancer is in this country — and he believes immunotherapy has brought us closer than ever. See his story on page 2.

In This Issue

inSiGHT is published twice a year for donors, friends, and supporters of The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation.

Immunotherapy: The Princess Margaret’s Starring Role

Meet Oncologist Dr. David Hogg

“I’ve seen the devastating toll cancer takes,” monthly donor says

Immunotherapy Emerges as The Next Big Thing …

In Time to Save Trent’s Life “I remember saying to my wife, ‘Well, at least I know how I’m going to die.’

But I was thinking: ‘I’m going to lose her.’ ” When Trent Krajaefski was diagnosed with stage four melanoma at age 33 — and learned that only 10 per cent of patients with metastatic skin cancer survive past five years — he was overwhelmed by feelings of loss.

“I remember saying to my wife, ‘Well, at least I know how I’m going to die,’ ” Trent recalls. “But I was thinking: ‘I’m going to lose her. I’m going to miss the opportunity to have children. I’m going to miss my family.’ All those things that I hadn’t done ... It was really hard for me to grasp what I was going to lose or miss out on.”

“About three months into the second trial Dr. Hogg showed me pictures of my lungs before and during treatment. It was day and night — there was a huge loss of the tumor in my lungs. Dr. Hogg was so happy. He was almost like a proud parent. When I saw him being so enthusiastic it just transferred instantly to me.”

Trent had been seeing dermatologists for years because of a family history of melanoma, but the stage four diagnosis in 2011 left him reeling. He’d been feeling fine. He’d been jogging. It had been business as usual in his job as an Air Force Captain in the Canadian military.

The first indication that something was wrong was an episode Trent dismissed as his eyes playing tricks on him. He experienced a flashing effect like a mirror ball that led to a complete but temporary loss of vision.

When the flashing started again a couple of weeks later, he and his wife, Sarah, rushed to the hospital where a scan revealed a onesquare-inch lesion on the back of his brain.

“That was the absolute last thing I was expecting to hear,” Trent recalls. “My world was absolutely spinning. I had no clue. It was really just a big shock.”

With melanoma having metastasized into his abdomen, his lungs, and then his brain, Trent had surgery to remove the brain tumor, then three types of chemotherapy and three rounds of radiation.

Throughout those dark days, he never gave up hope that something would work. But it was actually because of the failure of chemotherapy that he entered the first of two immunotherapy clinical trials at The Princess Margaret.

“You get to the point where you just say the hell with it, just give me anything,” Trent recalls. “It was either going to help me or it was going to help somebody else.”

Throughout the trials, Trent travelled from his home in Ottawa to Toronto every three weeks.

Trent Krajaefski and his wife, Sarah

Today, Trent is in what’s called partial remission. The tumors have virtually disappeared and he stopped all cancer treatment drugs in November 2014. He is thrilled to have a second chance at life and is deeply grateful for the treatment he received at The Princess Margaret, especially from Dr. Hogg and his team.

“I owe my life to him,” Trent says. “Of all the people I need to thank in my life he’s probably top of the list.”

What Trent most wants now is for Canadians to come together to help conquer cancer for good.

“We’re getting so close now to [conquering cancer], and not just melanoma,” he says. “I strongly believe we’re on the cusp. If donors will keep giving so we can come over the top of that mountain and find that cure, that’s my biggest message.”

Did You Know? Support from donors like you help to fund clinical trials like this one that saved Trent’s life.