Hope in His Backyard: Rickie’s Cancer Journey with START Midwest
Growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Rickie’s life was what you might expect for someone growing up in the Midwest. He played sports throughout high school and college and worked for General Motors for 31 years before retiring to take up a part-time job picking up and delivering cars for a car auction company, just to keep himself busy. Not one to sit idly by, he likes to golf, and coaches kids’ football and baseball when he isn’t driving, and loves spending time with his four grandkids who live close by.
These days though, he also has one other appointment on his calendar. Every 3 weeks or so Rickie goes to START Midwest, less than 10 miles from his house in Grand Rapids, MI.
Rickie is among a select few taking part in a clinical trial that will determine if a newly developed antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) can cure his cancer.
In November of 2002, just before his planned Thanksgiving vacation, Rickie took an annual physical wellness check – something he did every year without fail. He asked for a Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test, used commonly to screen for prostate cancer. “They told me they don’t do that until someone turns 50 years old,” says Rickie. But he was insistent, telling them he was going to turn 50 in January anyway.
The test came back with a value of 7.5, much higher than the normal range of [2.5-3.5]. After a prostate exam, his doctor recommended he get a biopsy and an ultrasound on his prostate. “I’ve been healthy my whole life up until that point, so I didn’t give it much thought, you know, it was going to come back negative,” he says.
On Saturday, the doctor called him back and gave him the sobering news. He had prostate cancer. He had his prostate removed, followed by some radiation therapy to treat the cancer. Despite the initial treatment, a few years later his PSA started to rise again. This time his doctors started him on hormone therapy to suppress testosterone, along with the radiation treatments, which seemed to keep the cancer at bay.
In 2021, Rickie visited his doctor because he’d started having persistent back pain. Tests revealed that the cancer had metastasized to his spine.
“That’s the first time I had it. I noticed it was in my bones. So this is when I started getting worried about everything,” he says. The news prompted Rickie to explore new treatment options. He told his oncologist at Spectrum Health, Dr. Emerson Lim, that he wanted to try this new treatment he’d learned about through his support group – a radiotherapy approved by the FDA in 2021 for metastatic prostate cancer. Dr. Lim agreed, though unfortunately, the treatment didn’t work as well as they had hoped.
Rickie didn’t have many treatment options left to try at this point. “I was just grasping at straws because I knew my treatment options were running out, and I wasn’t ready to give up yet. So, I just wanted to see if there was anything out there that can help me and maybe help other people too,” he says.
Determined to find a solution, Rickie advocated for himself as he always had. After extensive research, he learned about clinical trials and asked Dr. Lim, who promised to reach out to START Midwest.
“At START Midwest we work tirelessly in search of the upcoming breakthroughs in cancer therapeutics,” stated Director of Clinical Research at START Midwest, Dr. Nehal Lakhani. “If there is a cure for cancer anywhere in the world, we want our patients in West Michigan to have access to it first. Patients may not realize this, but we work very closely with their primary oncologists to try and find the best treatment option for them even before they set foot in our clinic.”
It just so happened that START Midwest was recruiting for a new clinical trial to test an antibody drug conjugate against treatment resistant metastatic solid tumors. In two weeks, Rickie received a call. They had an opening for him and wanted him to come down as soon as possible to get tested.
“We are currently in the golden age of oncology drug development. We are now able to drug cancer therapeutic targets that have been previously considered undruggable,” stated Dr. Lakhani. “Advances in medicinal chemistry have resulted in promising antibody drug conjugates as well as immunotherapy treatment options. To access potential breakthroughs of tomorrow, patients have to consider clinical trial participation today.”
“I was so happy for that. You know, for most [clinical trials], you may have to go to Ann Arbor or Chicago or somewhere, but no, they had it right in my backyard,” says Rickie.
After an extensive series of tests including blood work and an echocardiogram to make sure his heart was healthy, Rickie received his first treatment on a Thursday, which included chemo and the antibody drug conjugate. The trial regimen requires 3 weekly infusions, so every Thursday, Ricky gets in his fully loaded Chevy Equinox and drives to START Midwest for a full day’s worth of testing and treatment.
“I feel good after the treatment, and it gives me hope,” says Rickie. “I mean, this clinical trial gives you a little fatigue here and there, but I feel thankful that I got a chance to do it. If it can help me or help other people too down the road, then it makes me happy.”
“Rickie personifies what it means to be Midwest / West Michigan nice,” says Dr. Lakhani. “Despite having advanced prostate cancer, he has a refreshingly optimistic outlook towards life. I admire the determination and courage with which he has approached his fight against cancer.”
Rickie is determined not to let his cancer keep him down, even if the treatments have slowed him up a little. Just before he found out his cancer had metastasized in 2021, he ticked one of the items off on his bucket list. A motorcycle ride to California with his buddy. This year, after his treatments for the clinical trial are complete, he plans to travel down south with his wife to either Tennessee or Kentucky.
“I’ve never been a quitter in my life, and I got more things I want to do. I’m fighting this thing all the way.”