Brain Cancer Vaccine Offers Family Hope

April 22, 2009 - PRLog -- The Sacramento Bee, the largest newspaper serving the capitol of the State of California, recently ran a front-page story about Mark Miller, a 2+ year brain tumor survivor who has started using an experimental vaccine in his battle against a Grade 4 brain tumor.

Although Miller didn't meet the research criteria, his Neurosurgeon, Dr. Edie Zusman was able to persuade the vaccine's maker, Northwest Biotherapeutics, to prepare his personal vaccine for "compassionate use" – another way to get an experimental drug before it has been federally approved.  The vaccine is made up of his own brain tumor tissue that was harvested at the time of his second surgery and his own white blood cells.

For Miller, the vaccine is just the latest round in a cancer battle that started nearly 2½ years ago when he first noticed something odd – a slight droop on one side of his face.  He now knows that this was a slight focal seizure.  He was a young father and computer specialist who had just relocated from Orange County, California to Rocklin, California to be closer to his wife's parents. By mid-2007, when the tumor was definitively diagnosed, their first son was 4 and his wife Rachael was pregnant with their second child.  Their second son, Keegan, was born just 2 weeks after Miller's first brain surgery.

"You go through this foggy terror" after a brain tumor diagnosis, Miller's wife Rachael said.  The doctors were blunt. At every visit, they drilled it in again – this was a death sentence. Over time, she said, "you feel kind of emptied out, emotionally."

Miller has been through two surgeries, radiation and rounds of drugs. His tumor has recurred and is growing again.  Rachael Miller has hope, but she wants to be realistic, too. They've done their estate planning. He is making a video for his sons to watch.

Miller surrenders his fate to God. The experimental vaccine "is just a blessing for me," he said.  

Read the entire SacBee story at http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1772179-p2.html

You can read Miller's blog entry here:

http://www.markmillermusic.org/blog/2009/04/11/sacramento...

# # #

Musician Mark Miller opens his life and shares his fight against a grade 4 brain tumor. Visit www.markmillermusic.org/blog to learn about his experiences through two surgeries, chemotherapy, rounds of drugs and gamma knife.