Excerpt
SUMMARY: In May, Colorado became the first state to pass a so-called 'right to try' law, allowing terminal patients access to experimental drugs without FDA approval -- and Missouri is about to follow suit. NewsHour Weekend examines the issue by speaking with the Missouri bill's sponsor and his daughter, who is suffering from cancer.
STEPHEN FEE (NewsHour): In early 2013, Kristina Brogan was pregnant with her fifth child when she began experiencing excruciating pain — and her obstetrician didn’t know why.
KRISTINA BROGAN: Finally my mom went with me to an appointment and said you got to find out why she’s hurting so bad. So they did a level two ultrasound at St. Luke’s and admitted me immediately.
STEPHEN FEE: Why? What did they find?
KRISTINA BROGAN: They found the tumor. And they’d found it had gone up into my liver.
STEPHEN FEE: Kristina, at the age of 39, was diagnosed with stage four colorectal cancer.
STEPHEN FEE: What was that like?
KRISTINA BROGAN: Scary.
STEPHEN FEE: What was running through your head?
KRISTINA BROGAN: I can’t say I had a – a normal thought in my head. I was just scared. Scared for my baby. Scared for me. Scared for my family.
STEPHEN FEE: Her doctors needed to take aggressive measures to fight the disease and chose to perform a C-section, just 28 weeks into Kristina’s pregnancy. Today, her son Evan is a happy and healthy one-year old. Kristina however is battling a disease with dispiriting odds even with regular chemotherapy treatment.
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