Cancer Survivor Saved by Measles Virus Raises Funds for Expanded Trial

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After battling blood cancer for 10 years, Stacy Erholtz has no signs of the disease, thanks to an experimental treatment that used an engineered version of the measles virus.

Now, a year after finishing her treatment, the 50-year-old mother of three is transitioning from patient to advocate, working with the Rochester, Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic to expand the tiny trial that saved her life.

"When I was first diagnosed, there was not a lot of options. We strung together 10 years of life with a disease that is typically done in three to five," said Erholtz, who had tumors on her forehead, color bone, sternum and spine from multiple myeloma before the last-ditch treatment. "I'm encouraged. I want people to join me in remission right now."

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Multiple myeloma is a type of blood cancer that affects the immune system, according to the Mayo Clinic. It can cause kidney-failure.htm" id="ramplink_kidney failure_" target="_blank">kidney failure, bone fractures and repeated infections.

After chemotherapy and stem cell transplants failed, Erholtz was accepted into the measles trial and given the highest possible dose of the engineered virus, which was designed to attack her cancer cells and leave her healthy cells alone, according to her physician, Dr. Stephen Russell.

"It's been adapted, so that it learned in the lab how to grow pretty efficiently on myeloma cells, "said Russell, who is in charge of the new trial. "It's lost the ability to cause harm on normal cells."

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Cancer Survivor Saved by Measles Virus Raises Funds for Expanded Trial