Dorothy Brown
Over the past eight years, Dorothy Brown has discovered that chicken soup can indeed be good for the soul. And, that a clinical trial can be good for the body.
After enduring several bouts of severe pain around her lower back and waist in 2016, Brown was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer than develops within bone marrow. Her initial treatment plan involved a stem-cell transplant, a procedure that left Brown with a swollen throat and no appetite to the point that she had to receive fluids and nutrients through an IV.
“I just didn’t want to eat anything,” Brown recalls. “When I finally went home, my daughter made me a can of chicken noodle soup. I told her that I didn’t want any, but she said, ‘Mama, take a couple of sips just for me.’ Well, that was the best chicken noodle soup I’d ever had in my life. I ate the whole can, and that’s when my appetite starting coming back.”
Under the direction of UAB hematologist and medical oncologist Luciano Costa, M.D., Brown received a standard cancer medication for two years that kept her condition under control. When that treatment began to falter, she switched to a different medication that once again was effective for two years.
That was when Costa suggested enrolling Brown in a clinical trial in order to try a new medication. Brown previously worked as a nurse in the UAB Emergency Department and knew the types of questions to ask before agreeing to participate. After a brief period of hospitalization at the UAB Women & Infants Center for observation, she returned home and has been stable ever since with limited side effects from her monthly visits to UAB for continuing treatment.
“When I presented her with the opportunity of taking a new drug, we had known each other for several years and trust had been well established,” Costa says. “We discussed the treatment options, and she decided to participate in the clinical trial. She has done incredibly well. She comes in for an injection that has no major side effects, and then she goes on with her life.”
It is a life that, at age 73, includes attending both graduations and weddings and spending time with her children and her grandchildren. Brown credits the clinical trial with allowing her to enjoy all these activities while keeping her pain-free.
“I feel good. I do everything I’ve always done, I’m just a little bit slower,” Brown says with a laugh. “There’s been some ups and downs, but overall, I’m very satisfied. The treatment has been excellent. And everybody at UAB has been wonderful. When I walk in for my treatment each month, they all know me by name. I just love all of them and appreciate the care I’m getting.”