Clinical Trial Has Promising Results for Iowa Woman Fighting Ovarian Cancer

Deb Kadlec said fighting ovarian cancer is her full-time job. The Neola, Iowa, woman is getting a significant boost through a local clinical trial and a new drug combination.

“There is hope. There is light in the darkness,” said the former pediatric nurse, wife, mother of six and grandmother of eight.

Kadlec was diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer in 2014 at age 58. Doctors treated the cancer with chemotherapy and surgery, but the cancer returned in 2016, and again in 2017. That’s when Dr. Kirsten Leu, an oncologist with Nebraska Cancer Specialists, enrolled Kadlec in a clinical trial to test a new two-drug oral chemotherapy combination.

It’s working. Two years and four months later, there is no sign of cancer in her body.

“More than two years in remission for recurrent ovarian cancer is previously almost unheard of, so we’re really excited about this,” said Leu, who’s part of the trial through Methodist Health System.

See the full KETV story: Clinical Trial Promising for Iowa Woman Fighting Ovarian Cancer