close
close

FaCal transplantations Healed football coach Stage 3 colon cancer

A football coach of the Mississippi High School has finally reached the end zone of his cancer battle thanks to special, experimental treatment.

Tim Story was diagnosed with 49 with small intestine cancer in stage 3 after noticing strange pain in his sides. Two years and several challenging chemotherapy rounds later, the Hattiesburg was informed that the cancer had spread – and he only had to live for a few months.

“I'm not a crying man, but my wife and I compared some tears on the couch that day,” said the story, now 53, recently NBC News.

The advanced small intestine cancer from Tim Story was viewed as a terminal – until an experimental study with stool transplants and immunotherapy healed him. Tammykayphoto – stile.adobe.com

He had only a few sustainable ways and took a highly experimental clinical study in Houston, in which a faecal transplantation was preserved by someone in advanced cancer, which had been completely healed by immunotherapy.

“I knew I was a kind of guinea pig, but the only other option was to stay at home and I wouldn't make it,” he said.

At the center of the treatment of story was a PD-1 inhibitor one kind of immunotherapy.

In contrast to conventional cancer treatments such as chemotherapy or radiation, immunotherapy offers a more targeted approach by helping the immune system to attack the tumors.

The immunotherapy approved for cancer treatment for the first time in 2011 was shown that immunotherapy is effective in 15 to 20% of people with certain types of cancer.

The numbers are even higher – 45% to 60% – for patients and history with tumors with a high number of DNA mutations.

In the case of the story, however, the medication did not influence any major influence.

“I knew I was a kind of guinea pig, but the only other option was to stay at home and I wouldn't make it,” said Story. Widoon – stile.adobe.com

That was until his oncologist, Dr. Michael Overman, who came across a woman with metastatic colon cancer, who had experienced a much better reaction to the medication – her tumors had shrunk by 90% and healed with a little operation.

Overman believed that the transfer of the unique intestinal microbes from a “superdonor” like her to someone who did not respond well to the medication initiated his own clinical study with 15 patients in advanced cancer.

The participants received several infusions of the Superdonor chair for a month, and five of the patients received further oral can-in-form of freezer-dried capsules for another six months.

The attempt underlines the complex and powerful relationship between the intestinal microbioma and the immune system. Sebastian Kaulitzki – Stock.adobe.com

Only three participants were temporarily decreased. But the story was lucky – his tumors disappeared to disappear and in autumn 2024 he was officially healed.

“Until then, they were quite final that the cancer had disappeared,” said Story NBC News. “For me and my wife it felt like we were winning the lottery, because we had no options before the attempt.”

They may sound bizarre, but “Poop pills” were approved in 2023 by the US Food and Drug Administration for faecal service transplants.

Researchers in Canada have recently launched a clinical study to determine whether stool transplants in capsule form can improve the likelihood of patients with pancreatic cancer who only has a survival rate of 13%of five years.

For the story, innovative treatment was nothing less than a miracle.

“I am a Christian and I think God went through that for some reason because he planned something else for me,” he said.

“I was able to go to work again for the first time in four years. I train football again and teach schools. It is my passion. I missed it so much because I had to retire. Now it feels like I have a second chance in life. “