Wortman-Dabrowska saw her doctor. Blood tests revealed she had multiple myeloma, which was causing her bones to deteriorate, she said.
She had chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant. Doctors then found a “big hole” in her right femur bone, which required surgery.
“I went into complete remission, and I stayed in remission for a good nine years.”
She relapsed in 2023. A second stem cell transplant led her into a “good remission”.
She relapsed again and tried two cancer drugs, but neither worked.
Now, she was “out of options”.
“The next step is to try and get some treatment overseas.”
Wortman-Dabrowska said she was looking at clinical trials in Australia and China.
She was waiting to hear about being accepted for a free drug trial in Brisbane. If successful, she planned to go in July.
Wortman-Dabrowska had also been researching CAR T-cell therapy, which she said involved her stem cells being harvested and genetically modified to “recognise the cancer and fight it”.
She planned to go to Shanghai for the life-prolonging treatment, costing about $200,000. A Givealittle page has been set up for her.
Tauranga woman Maria Wortman-Dabrowska said she can still do daily tasks, such as walking her dog.
If she was accepted for the free trial in Australia, the money would go towards flights, accommodation, living costs, other unexpected medical needs “and potentially still CAR T”, she said.
Wortman-Dabrowska said her diagnosis had impacted her life “pretty dramatically”.
Her previous work included choreographing as well as running a small gardening business. Now, she did massage therapy part-time but was currently not working, to prioritise her health.
She could still walk her dog and do other daily tasks, “it’s just slower”.
“It’s a hard struggle at times and then at times it makes you really appreciate being alive.”
Wortman-Dabrowska said she believed New Zealand was “sort of trailing behind” other countries for multiple myeloma treatments.
She would “love to be able to access” the myeloma treatment drug daratumumab but “probably can’t” due to the cost. The Rotorua Daily Post has previously reported daratumumab costs $220,000 a year.
Sophie Lister, Wortman-Dabrowska‘s long-time friend, has organised a multiple myeloma awareness and fundraising event at Mount Maunganui’s Leisure Island (Moturiki) on June 20 at 11am.
Lister said attendees would hold hands and form a line or circle on the beach. The formation would be captured by drone footage.
She hoped to raise awareness about the need for drug funding for multiple myeloma patients.
All were welcome at the family-friendly event.
CAR T-cell clinical trials in New Zealand
The Malaghan Institute, a New Zealand biomedical research centre, has been running two CAR T-cell clinical trials for lymphoma patients.
Clinical director Professor Robert Weinkove said the institute had been doing laboratory research on a form of CAR T-cell therapy that could be effective for myeloma.
Although it aspired to open a myeloma trial in the future, this was uncertain as it depended on funding and the experimental research going well, he said.
Weinkove said CAR T-cell therapy was different from other cancer treatments and offered potential advantages, including it typically being a “one-off treatment”.
“Patients’ own T-cells are engineered to target and destroy a patient’s own cancer cells – this minimises damage to healthy cells and can reduce the types of side effects associated with chemotherapy and radiation.
“For some people with blood cancers, CAR-T cell therapies can provide long-lasting protection against cancer relapse.”
This was because the CAR-T cells inside the body could survive for months or years, providing “surveillance” against the cancer.
Weinkove said CAR T-cell therapies could have serious immune system side effects. Clinical trials and treatment programmes were designed to monitor for these.
He said a key objective of its second trial was to support registration of this CAR T-cell therapy in New Zealand and uptake within the public health system.
“By establishing processes for assessing and delivering CAR T-cell therapies, we hope our lymphoma trials will open the door for delivery of other CAR T-cells in New Zealand.”
Pharmac advice and assessment director Dr David Hughes last month said it had four funding applications for daratumumab on its options for investment list, including three for multiple myeloma.
These were medicines Pharmac wanted to fund if it had the budget available.
Hughes said Pharmac understood multiple myeloma had a significant impact on people’s lives.
He could not say if or when a funding decision would be made, as it depended on available budget, negotiations with suppliers and the prioritisation of other medicines.
He said Pharmac was in regular contact with the supplier, Janssen, about its daratumumab funding applications.
Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.