Derek Ruff from San Diego was diagnosed with stage IV metastatic colon cancer.

“It’s a lot. It’s a tough diagnosis, it’s really difficult to live through” says Derek.

Following his diagnosis, Derek had three months of aggressive chemotherapy, but Ruff’s condition only got worse.

He is now taking part in a cinical trial that utilizes adult stem cells, the stem cells that are within us, within our blood factory, within our blood marrow, that create a master bank of cells that are then utilized to program and fight the cancer with cellular immunotherapy.

“These are patients who don’t have a lot of good options in terms of chemotherapy or immunotherapy,” said Dr. Sandip Patel, a medical oncologist who is leading the trial at UCSD.

The clinical immunotherapy trial received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to move into clinical trials in November 2018. Ruff is the first person in the world to receive this treatment and he got his first dose in February. As of April 2019 he is very hopeful.

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