By admin 
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT/Gray News) – A Colorado teacher who came to Nebraska a decade ago as a last resort is celebrating 10 years in remission from a blood cancer that doctors believed would kill her within months.
Read more Avondale man arranges sex with ‘teen,’ busted in civilian sting, police say
Amy Cheese of Fort Collins, Colorado, was diagnosed with lymphoma and carried a grapefruit-sized tumor putting pressure on her heart. In 2016, she volunteered for a clinical trial at the Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center in Omaha, becoming one of the first patients to receive CAR T-cell therapy there.
“Here we are at 10 years, and it’s wonderful,” Cheese said.
CAR T-cell therapy re-engineers a patient’s own immune cells to fight cancer.
Cheese described the process to her third-grade students this way:
“I would say that they took my blood out and took out some T-cells, which are to help your body fight against bad things that come into your body. They sent them off and they turned them into cancer-eating lions. They put them back in and they ate it all up and now it’s gone,” Cheese said.
Dr. Julie Vose, a hematologist and oncologist at the Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, said the therapy was a last resort for Cheese.
“This was kind of a last resort,” Vose said.
Months after the treatment, Cheese received the news she had hoped for.
“This shows it’s all gone, and that means complete remission,” a doctor told her during a follow-up visit captured on camera.
“I didn’t think it was ever going to happen,” Cheese said.
What’s next for the therapy
Dr. Matt Lunning, medical director of gene and cellular therapy at the Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, said the field is still evolving.
Read more FDA panel’s peptide vote raises alarms among Phoenix-area health experts
“It’s a brand new technology with a brand new textbook and an operating manual. So we can’t lean on 50 years of experience of some of the drugs that we have that are now half a century old,” Lunning said.
Vose said the results are gratifying for those who have worked in the field.
“You know, it’s really gratifying for all of us that do that,” Vose said.
A life rebuilt
Cheese retired from teaching last year. She now spends time with her grandchildren, including fishing with her grandson.
“I’m so thankful for everybody that gets to benefit from it, because cancer is an absolutely horrible, horrible thing,” Cheese said.
“I just thank God that I’m alive for another year. And every time I hear Omaha, Nebraska, it’s like another home for me. It will always be a special place. You just have that connection you can’t explain because you are just thankful to be alive,” Cheese said.
On Friday, the University of Nebraska Medical Center community and Nebraska Medicine colleagues will celebrate the patients and breakthroughs of CAR T-cell therapy.
Read more Man indicted after power tools stolen from 17 Phoenix-area home goods stores