Debby Davis
In January of 2018, Debby Davis began an IV chemotherapy regimen to treat her clear cell ovarian cancer as part of a clinical trial called the TAPUR study. Once a week, she ventured from her home in Harpersville, AL to the UAB Gynecologic Oncology clinic for lab tests and a quick 30-minute infusion of the drug temsirolimus.
Just over six years later, Davis continues to make this trip nearly every single Wednesday. As of late June she had completed the four-week chemo cycle 82 times, putting her total number of visits to the clinic in the 330 range.
“The people there call me Ms. Wednesday,” Davis says with a laugh. “I know everybody, and everybody knows me. The cafeteria people ask me if I work there. They’re all my family now.”
Davis’s determined effort has paid off. Though her cancer has not been eliminated, it has remained under control, allowing her to continue working and maintaining an active lifestyle into her early seventies.
“I’m just living with cancer,” Davis says. “It’s a lot like somebody living with diabetes. People with diabetes take their shots at home. I can’t take this medicine to the house, so I just have to go to UAB once a week. It’s my day out. I get treated there, talk to everybody and then go home.”
Davis views the weekly trip as more of an opportunity than an obligation. That’s because in the first few years after a tumor 20 centimeters in diameter was discovered on her left ovary in 2015, Davis’s prognosis was not promising. Her initial attempts with standard chemo treatments did not prevent the cancer from advancing, and she had insurance issues involving a potential oral drug.
Finally, after the cancer spread to her liver, Davis became eligible for the TAPUR study, a national trial that targets such tumor mutations. By that time, she was running out of options.
“Other than this drug, we didn’t really have any treatments for her,” says UAB gynecologic oncologist Michael Straughn, Jr., M.D. “Without this clinical trial, her prognosis would have been pretty poor. But as soon as she started on the trial, her cancer just stopped growing right in its tracks, and it hasn’t grown at all since.”
As a result, Davis has been able to continue living her life without much change. She spends time with her children and grandchildren, and she takes care of her 2-acre property in Harpersville. And, of course, she makes the weekly trip to UAB.
“I’m just amazed at what this drug has done for me,” Davis says. “I’ve been on this medicine for so long that my cancer is calcified. It’s just like having little rocks inside me. As long as my lab results stay the same, I’ll just come back each week and let them treat me.”