Terminally ill Darlene Gant of Tampa, Florida, might live longer thanks to a heartbreaking YouTube video in which the woman pleas for Genentech to give her a promising new cancer drug called pertuzumab before it is released by the FDA on June 8, 2012.
Gant’s friends, relatives, and doctors have sent letters to Genentech, the company behind pertuzumab, begging the company to release the drug earlier than scheduled for “compassionate use,” as Gant is currently struggling with breast cancer. In her heartbreaking video plea, Gant pleads for viewers to:
“Plea, do what you can and stand up and insist on research for stage 4 metastatic cancers.”
In reply to her video plea, one commenter offered support as they wrote:
“You go girl! How’s that for not taking no for an answer.”
With over 20,000 views, according to Y! News , the video seems to have inspired Genentech to agree to an early release of the drug under “compassionate care basis.”
Pertuzumab is also known as 2C4, trade name Omnitarg, and is a monoclonal antibody that binds to HER2 in order to inhibit dimerization of HER2 with other HER receptors. It is hypothesized to result in decelerated tumor growth.
Darlene’s hospital has approved the treatment and she is currently scheduled to begin taking pertuzumab.
With the overwhelming support garnered by her personal video plea, it would seem as if Gant just may have bought herself some extra time thanks in part to the popularity of YouTube, her unending gumption to prolong her life, and the support of friends, family, doctors, and the viewers of her video.
