Trailblazers

This word evokes images of pioneers carving a new life in an untamed world. Or innovators and scientists creating new and different methods to conquer problems that we face today and will face in the future. When I hear this word, I think of the people that step out in faith and sometimes desperation to be members of a clinical trial. They’re helping to blaze a trail for a future cure. 

When you face a life-altering disease, you realize there aren’t always easy remedies for you. As it happens with ovarian cancer, it is a devious enemy, reacting differently in everyone and to the treatments available; no two individuals are the same, and their body chemistries are different. Chemotherapy protocols work for some, but not others. Once you exhaust conventional options, you’re faced with “Do I qualify for a clinical trial?” There are 4 phases, and it can be scary. I was offered the choice of a phase I trial. The consent form was 42 pages, and the drug had not yet been tested on humans. The people who choose the clinical trials often do so because it’s their only choice. They are seeking healing for themselves and blazing a trail for those to come. Sometimes they’re going where no one has gone before. They take risks in search of a cure, not knowing how the drug will affect them or if it will be successful. These are the people that help determine the safe dosage range, the list of side effects listed for the drug, and its efficacy. They are heroes, warriors.

I am thankful for the bravery of these trailblazers and saddened they are faced with this choice. They are the unsung heroes of clinical research. (Joshua 1:9)