Two years ago, Emma Dimley was told that her stage 4 colon cancer was incurable. Today, she is healthy and cancer-free – and she says that the last resort clinical trial saved her life.
Dimley, who lives in Minnesota, was only 23 years old when he was diagnosed with colon cancer.
After experiencing abdominal pain and an abnormal blood test, Dimery underwent colonoscopy, revealing a “softball-sized” tumor and another “golf ball size,” she told Fox News Digital.
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Despite multiple surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, and several combination therapies, Dimery’s treatment-resistant cancer spread throughout the body over the years, leading to what she described as a “low point.”
Emma Dimery is presented in the first phase of the clinical trial. (Emma Dimley)
“I was basically stepping on the water and probably every other week for about four years,” she told Fox News Digital in an interview on camera, adding that she “it was out of the option.” (See the video at the top of the article.)
“I was waiting for a clinical trial,” recalls Dimery, now 35.
Is it a faint hope
When Dimley heard about the new trial at the University of Minnesota, she said it was “not a tough decision.”
“I was on board most of the time from day one,” she said.
The trial, led by Dr. Emil Lou, tested experimental gene therapy, which researchers described as the “next frontier for immunotherapy.”
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Most immunotherapy has a target outside the cell, which targets inside the cell.
“Some of the targets within the cells prevent the immune system from activating cancer,” Lu, a medical oncologist and scientist who previously had a dim treatment, told Fox News Digital in an on-camera interview. “It’s like a shield that protects cancer cells from the body’s immune system.”
In 2023, Emma Dimley was portrayed in the hospital in her care trial during a clinical trial with her care team. (Emma Dimley)
In this study, cancer cells were collected from participants and subsequently modified in the lab using CRISPR-CAS9 gene editing technology, which Lou described as “genetic scissors.” This process programmed the cells to have a more effective antitumor response.
The altered cells were then reintroduced into the patient’s body via injection.
“They trained the cells so they could specifically fight my cancer when they were reintroduced into my body,” Dimery pointed out.
“What we saw was… a grand, unprecedented level of response.”
It’s sometimes a tough, long process and she shared with some challenging side effects.
“You’re going to get through it and focus on the good,” Dimley said. “And I had a lot of good stuff around me. I had a really great support team.”
A total of 12 patients participated in the study, and Dimery had by far the best results.
“Unprecedented response”
Most advanced colorectal cancers are not considered curable, Lou has been confirmed by Fox News Digital.
“Chemotherapy or other treatments we have available to them are palliative, meaning that they have no ability to induce treatment in patients with metastatic stage 4 colorectal cancer,” he said.
“Emma was in that category until she came to our trial.”
Emma Dimley and her husband Andrew celebrate after their 2023 trial, after buying a house shortly after being released from hospital. (Emma Dimley)
Lou described Dimery’s response to experimental immunotherapy as “remarkable.” She was declared cancer free after only one injection of engineered cells. This is “almost unprecedented” of advanced colorectal cancer.
“We are called “complete clinical response” in oncology. This is something that can be seen in under 10% of all patients,” Lou said. “And for stage 4 colorectal cancer, that’s less than 10%.”
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“What we saw in Emma was a level of grand and unprecedented response, and we went from the metastasis stage due to an otherwise incurable cancer.
Two years after the trial, Dimery said he was “doing really well.”
Emma Dimley is portrayed with her sister Anne Johnson during her 2017 hospitalization. (Emma Dimley)
“The test worked quickly, and I had no evidence of illness,” she told Fox News Digital.
She is hesitant to use “C-Word” or “Cure,” but she says the trial has changed the way she thinks about cancer.
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“Up to date, the best thing I could hope for was remission to the point of no evidence of illness…and I had to accept that they could always re-raised their heads, even if they couldn’t detect it on a scan,” Dimery said.
“All of my scans have come back better and better.”
“You’re going to get over it and focus on the good,” Dimery said in an on-camera interview with Fox News Digital. “And I had a lot of good stuff around me. I had a really great support team.” (Fox News)
Dimery’s story was presented last week at the American Cancer Research Association (AACR) Annual Meeting in Chicago.
“Emma is exceptional in many ways, but what we’ve learned from her case is to replicate and decipher how this can be achieved on a more consistent basis for more patients like her,” added Lou.
The importance of screening
Research suggests that in 2023, one colorectal cancer diagnosis will affect patients under the age of 50.
The US College of Surgeons predicts that early-onset cases will double by 2030.
Emma Dimery is portrayed in 2013 in just 23 years after receiving her first cancer diagnosis. (Emma Dimley)
“Colorectal cancer is one of the few cancers that tested the screening tool,” Lu pointed out.
These include blood-based tests, stool-based tests, and colonoscopy.
In 2018, the American Cancer Society changed its colorectal screening recommendation from 50 to 45 years old. Other medical institutions continued for several years.
“This exam worked almost immediately. Since then I have no evidence of illness.”
Still, Lou said he saw the patient being diagnosed much earlier than the 45-year-old benchmark.
“In the last five or six years, I’ve seen things that I didn’t see early in my career, like people in their 20s, 20s, 30s, 40s,” he shared.
“Last week, someone in their early 40s saw stage 4 colorectal cancer that had spread widely.”
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“Impressive and surprising” means that about half of colon cancer cases have been diagnosed at stage 4.
“In many cases, they don’t even have symptoms, or they have symptoms that are interpreted as something else.”
The more people notice, the better. Emma Dimery, painted in 2021 during immunotherapy treatments, said: (Emma Dimley)
Dimery said he is encouraged by early-onset colon cancer that comes at the “front of public consciousness.”
The more people notice, the better. I think it’s really important to inform and stay connected to the community, not panic. ”
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Genetic testing is also important for measuring the availability of clinical trials, she noted.
“It can tell you a lot about your individual type of cancer,” Dimery said. “I’m lucky, I had the right kind of cancer for this treatment.”
