Matthew Schreindorfer heads to Maryland for CAR-T cancer treatment

MONTREAL – Matthew Schreindorfer, the Laval man who crowdfunded his way to an experimental cancer treatment in New York, is on the move again.

This time, he and his wife, Katia Luciani, are heading to Bethesda, Maryland to take part in his second CAR-T cancer treatment at the government-run National Institute of Health (NIH).

READ MORE: Laval’s Matthew Schreindorfer shares sad news in Facebook post

“I will be poked and probed repeatedly throughout the rest of this week and next, and the collection of my T-cells will be done near the end of next week,” Schreindorfer wrote on his Facebook page, Help Save Matthew.

He noted that the last three months have been difficult for the couple, especially when it came to getting accepted into the NIH’s clinical trial.

“We can’t believe that it’s finally a reality,” he wrote.

“I’m not going to lie, there was some minor harassment involved from our end…hopefully the staff there don’t think that we’re crazy stalkers. It’s my life that depended on it after all!”

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It’s been a long road to get him into the trial.

WATCH BELOW: Matthew Schreindorfer’s journey

After the lengthly treatment in New York, Schreindorfer announced he was in remission and the couple was ready to slowly start returning to a normal life.

However, a routine six-month post transplant bone marrow biopsy on Dec. 9, 2015, changed all that when doctors confirmed the cancer was back.

READ MORE: Matthew Schreindorfer lobbies for better cancer treatment in Quebec

That’s when he turned to the CAR-T cell immunotherapy treatment.

“It’s extremely difficult to find the right balance and optimal conditions to get accepted into the trial – healthy, but not too healthy, sick but not too sick,” he said.

READ MORE: ‘We had been waiting for so long’: Matthew Schreindorfer talks cancer, crowdfunding and his future

Schreindorfer said he’s excited and nervous, but hopes the treatment will work.

“I know that this is the beginning of a soon-to-be normal life again for us,” he wrote, promising to give regular updates as the trial goes on.

rachel.lau@globalnews.ca
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