Statement by Cristina Santedicola

1

After four years fighting against a non-Hodgkin lymphoma that did not respond definitively to any treatment existing at that time, at the end of 1997 I was informed that the medical science could no longer do anything for me. In other words, I was about to reach the end of my life on Earth. Few weeks later, while I was trying to find any shortcut to remain on the road of life, I learned that the FDA (U.S. Federal Drug Administration) had just approved the experimental human use of a new drug conceived to fight exactly that type of lymphoma. As a biologist in love with life and as a patient who did not want to die, I decided to grasp that last opportunity. Almost two decades after being cured, I continue to thank God, the physicians, the researchers, the lab guinea pigs, the lawyers and also the individuals and the companies who funded the researches leading to the development of that drug.

I have seen with concern the scaring advancement of cancer throughout the world, especially in less developed countries. In such countries the challenges are even bigger due to regional specific types of cancer, scarcity of all types of resources for prevention and early diagnosis, in addition to the non-existence of a donation culture to support the clinical trials, despite the fiscal benefits available for all donors – both individuals and companies.

The Cure Project is a relief in such scenario, since it aims at raising funds to support the research of new drugs to fight cancer in Brazil. Here we have strict norms for approval of researches by local ethics committees that integrate a national regulatory network designed to protect the safety and the well-being of subjects who participate in clinical trials.

The benefits associated with the clinical trials do not reach just those individuals who reach the cure and resume their normal lives. Such researches also add value to institutions and professionals involved in the different stages of the process, fostering news frontiers of scientific knowledge, which, in their turn, will support new scientific advancements.

Life is priceless. Please, help the Cure Project to save lives!

Cristina Santedicola
B.Sc. Biology, M.Sc. Geology
Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
September 13th, 2016