For those Inquiring Minds...

We'd like to answer a couple of questions that have been posed regarding the clinical trial which begins Monday February 13, 2012:

Is Cisplatin what Laura has taken before or a completely new drug?

Yes, Cisplatin is an entirely different drug. From June through September 2011 Laura received a combination of drugs, Cytoxan and Adriamycin, and then Taxol -- the standard therapy for treatment of triple negative breast cancer patients with an aggressive tumor. When a very small amount of residual cancer cells were found in Laura’s breast tissue at surgery, her oncologist recommended this Cisplatin/PARP inhibitor clinical trial as a follow-up option. Because Laura was randomly assigned to the chemo portion only of this clinical trial, she will receive Cisplatin, a platinum-containing compound which has been used for a number of years for stopping/slowing the growth of cancer cells in many types of cancers.

When you say "final blow," does this mean there are no more drugs/treatments after this round?

For this part of Laura's medical journey, yes - this is the final drug/treatment she can receive before the "wait and see" period begins post-treatment. Cisplatin is not approved to use on patients without metastatic cancer and it has a proven track record of killing the type of cancer cells that were in Laura's body. Were it not for this clinical trial, Cisplatin wouldn't be administered at this time. Laura, her medical team, and her family all think that doing more now can only help. That, and it will give her the mental boost that she's done everything she can to show up to this fight with "guns blazing!"

Hope this answers Mandi's questions. Thanks for asking. Does anyone else have questions? Feel free to ask and we'll answer as we're able.