Nine Years After Terminal Diagnosis, Woman With Same Cancer as Brittany Maynard is Still Alive

In 2006, Sandra Hilburn was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme and was given three months to live. Her diagnosis was the same as Brittany Maynard’s, the 29-year-old terminally ill cancer-patient who received national attention when she legally committed suicide with a fatal dose of phenobarbital.

After finding out she had stage IV glioblastoma multiforme and six months to live, Maynard moved from her California home to Oregon so that she could have access to the “death with dignity” prescription. Currently, in the United States, Oregon is one of five states, along with New Mexico, Montana, Washington, and Vermont that allow assisted suicide for terminally ill patients.

However, unlike Maynard, Hilburn didn’t pursue assisted suicide and is still alive today.

According to the Daily Mail, researchers at Duke University Medical Center found that a dose of tetanus vaccine let patients like Hillburn live longer when added to an experimental treatment for the brain tumor. Researcher Kristen Batich said, “[The treatment] put the immune system on high alert,’ paving the way for the experimental treatment to work better in attacking the disease.”

Now nine years and five grandchildren later, Hilburn is still alive and going strong. She said, “I think I’m good for at least another 10-years.” Hilburn, along with 11 other cancer patients, were given the tetanus shot and then doctors removed white blood cells from the patients and equipped them with a chemical target found in the tumor called cytomegalovirus. Afterward they would return the cells to the patient’s body and train the immune system to go after the cancer cells and kill them. (Read more from “Nine Years After Terminal Diagnosis, Woman With Same Cancer as Brittany Maynard is Still Alive” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.