Several days ago, an article caught my
eye about a man who passed away from
Parkinson's, but had refused to give up
the fight along the way. He was a
retired CEO of his company, an optimist,
well-loved, and never complained. His
goal was to play golf again. People said
that all you needed was his handshake;
he was an honest man.
This article came through email in a
Google alert for Parkinson's Disease
Research. It was mentioned that he
participated in a clinical trial with
Dr. Penn in Chicago and donations could
be sent there. I knew that Dr. Penn was
the Chicago investigator for the GDNF
trial so I called the reporter to see if
he knew anything else about the clinical
trial this man was in. The reporter sent
me the information that the patient's
wife had sent to the newspaper,
which he had to modify drastically.
The changes were needed because of
length and content. Her article
talked about the GDNF trial and sure
enough - it was the halted Phase II
Amgen trial. I called the wife and
talked to her at length. Her
husband was first in line for this
trial; but he got the placebo. Brain
surgery for a placebo....the chance you
take. After six months, all were given
the real GDNF. This man then got two
doses, and the drug was halted.
He tried the only other option, a DBS,
which failed miserably. On May 17, he
died at the age of 62.
His name is Bob Cameron. And he is the
first "what if" from this phase II trial
halt. "For him, Parkinson's Disease was
a terminal illness. The only
alternative, DBS, did not work. We will
never know whether GDNF could have eased
his suffering or prolonged his life,"
said Dr. Donald Gash, research scientist
at the University of Kentucky.
