Treatment Plan (Finally)

Caroline has officially met the bloodwork requirements to begin a clinical trial for her fourth fight with Neuroblastoma.

She will start outpatient treatment on Monday at Vanderbilt, receiving a combination of two drugs—one taken orally (an inhibitor) and one administered intravenously (an immunotherapy).

The known and potential side effects include:

• Severe pain from the antibody infusion
• Body rash
• Low blood pressure
• Low oxygen levels
• Neutropenia (a compromised immune system)
• Nausea
• Exhaustion

As far as we know, these treatments should not cause hair loss, which has been Caroline’s “silver lining.” We will once again work closely with her care team to manage and treat side effects as effectively as possible. The infusion portion of treatment carries significant risk—particularly related to blood pressure and oxygen levels—so she will be closely monitored throughout each session. She will also undergo additional testing during this protocol, including EKGs, echocardiograms, urine tests, frequent bloodwork, etc.

The first month of treatment will include a cycle total of 14 days of oral medication 💊 + 3 days of antibody infusion (immunotherapy). She will also receive 5 days of injections at home to help her immune system recover.

Caroline will repeat this same schedule the following month, with disease-status imaging planned for mid-June.

The waiting has been an incredibly anxious time for all of us, so we are very relieved to finally have a plan in place.

We are deeply grateful to the Beat Childhood Cancer (BeatCC) Foundation and Research Consortium for developing these trials, giving kids like Caroline more options in fighting this awful disease. Thank you as well to our friends and family who have supported BeatCC over the years—your generosity truly helps drive critical research and save lives.

We are also incredibly appreciative of our entire Vanderbilt team for partnering with BeatCC to bring these trials to our home hospital. Caroline will (once again!) be the first patient at Vanderbilt to receive this treatment.

Thank you all for your continued support and prayers—we feel them every day.

Love,
The Lantz Family
#carolinestrong

#ftgf

Celebrating "Senior Night" at Andrew's lacrosse game this week!