[author: Caoline Spangler Vaughn]

Project W alumna Carole Spangler Vaughn has spent her entire career in the life sciences industry working on solutions to prevent and treat diseases. When Carole was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent chemotherapy, she used self-help remedies to prevent the long-term and often permanently debilitating effects of chemotherapy. Recognizing that these remedies were not the answer, Carole founded Eisana. She shares how Eisana is helping cancer survivors live healthy and pain-free lives.

I was on a fabulous wine tasting trip with my husband in the Willamette Valley, Oregon, when I noticed the lump. I knew it was breast cancer, and suddenly our fun-filled weekend of Pinot and Syrah came to a screeching halt. Consumed with the thought that, "I'm going to die, and my children will lose their mother," I was paralyzed with fear and couldn't eat or sleep. And when the emergency room nurse gave me a hug and said, "good luck" with a somber look on her face, I knew it wasn't good.

To most patients, the diagnosis is often shocking, but for me it was actually ironic considering my professional background. I have a PhD in Biophysics from The Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from the University of Washington. I've spent decades in the life science industry, mostly bringing oncology products to market. I've worked with devices, imaging, targeted antibodies, drugs, and cancer vaccines over the years. But none of that helped when I became the patient. All of that knowledge, industry experience, and product innovation suddenly evaporated from my life's tapestry.

Instead of heading to Bend, Oregon, to visit good friends, we drove to our old hometown of Seattle, Washington. I was quickly seen, a biopsy was arranged, and yes, in fact, I had breast cancer. We flew home to Houston, Texas, to start treatment at MD Anderson, a global leader in cancer care. Unfortunately, the tumor was 4.9cm and the cancer had spread to my lymph nodes, so in addition to a mastectomy, they removed 19 lymph nodes from my right armpit area. That bought me 16 rounds of chemotherapy and 30 rounds of radiation, which may look tidy in print, but the actual experience is far from that.

While I was lucky enough to be in one of the best cancer treatment centers in the world, the treatment itself is quite barbaric. It became clear to me that breast cancer, like prostate cancer, has become fairly routine with healthcare providers, but it was not routine for me. I struggled to find trustworthy information about my disease online and became obsessed with learning about all of the side effects of the treatment, and how to avoid them. I made a long list of anecdotal suggestions and took it to my MD Anderson oncologist who surprisingly gave me the green light for most of them. I did them all, from high doses of glutamine, to cooling my hands and feet in baggies of frozen corn to prevent permanent nerve damage in my hands and feet, called chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, or CIPN.

I also decided to save my hair and cold capped. It was successful, but really uncomfortable and an incredible amount of work. We had six gel caps stored on dry ice. We'd remove one, warm it up to a toasty -35 degrees Fahrenheit, and then put it on my head. Twenty minutes later, we'd swap it out for another. I had to do this continuously for 8 hours after my infusion was complete because to be successful you have to continue cooling until the chemotherapy drug is sufficiently depleted from your blood stream. And what did I use to protect my forehead and ears from frostbite? Panty liners. Very dignified. As if chemotherapy wasn't hard enough.

While I was fortunate to avoid CIPN and hair loss through all 16 rounds of chemotherapy, I was incredibly frustrated at the lack of innovation towards cancer treatment and side effect prevention - especially CIPN. Several research studies have shown that something as simple as cooling can protect the nerve endings in your fingers and toes from absorbing the toxic chemo drugs. It sounds simple enough, but currently there are no reasonable cooling solutions tailored to the unique needs of cancer patients. Existing solutions include freezable gloves and socks, baggies of ice, bowls of ice water, or baggies of frozen vegetables. Those solutions are designed to cool skin at freezing temperatures for no more than 20 minutes at a time to avoid tissue damage. Plus, none of those cooling methods allow a patient to have normal function of their hands and feet for activities like using a cell phone or walking to the bathroom. And for the best results you need to cool, without interruption, before, during, and after the infusion of the chemo drugs. With no reasonable solutions available, I founded Eisana to solve the problem. Eisana is developing products to prevent neuropathy in a cancer patients' hands and feet and to prevent chemotherapy-induced hair loss. I'm happy to report that we recently received a contract (Phase 1 SBIR) from the National Institute of Health and National Cancer Institute to support our mission.

I have heard so many heartbreaking stories about patients surviving cancer, only to be left with debilitating health issues caused by the side effects of the treatment. I have always had a heart and passion to help others, and that is the whole reason that I have spent my adult life in the life science and healthcare field. My own experience only fueled my passion. If I can help even one person, my life has counted. Trust me, surviving cancer is hard enough, but unnecessary pain and suffering should never be the price of survival.

[View source.]