‘Game-changing’ treatment giving hope for 35yo mum after terminal cancer diagnosis
An Afghanistan veteran and nurse diagnosed with aggressive and terminal cancer has become the first Australian to receive “game-changing” treatment.
Kaela Graham-Bowman, a mother of two, has been battling synovial sarcoma, an aggressive cancer that targets soft tissue such as joints in the arms and legs, since 2020.
Aggressive cancer is most commonly diagnosed in adolescents and young adults, and symptoms often include numbness or tingling, or a noticeable and painful lump under the skin.
Graham-Bowman was 28 and working as an oncology nurse when she received a life-changing diagnosis.
“I started feeling pain in my right thigh and initially thought it was an army injury, just arthritis or something,” he told 60 Minutes.
“Because I’m a nurse, I went to my doctor and told him what was wrong with me. He agreed and said, ‘Let’s send you for an ultrasound anyway.’ And yes, I saw the look on their faces and everything changed in a minute.”
She had surgery the following week, followed by chemotherapy and radiation, while continuing to work as a nurse.
“My work gives me purpose, and I firmly believe that when you lose that purpose, you lose the fight,” he said.
It turns out the treatment started working as expected, the cancer went into remission and Graham-Bowman got a “new life.”
“I thought I was cancer-free,” he said.
But a scan in 2022 revealed that his cancer had returned and metastasized.
“So this scan showed that the cancer had spread to both of my lungs,” he said.
“I felt like my life was over. I knew how bad it was and how dark everything was going to be.”
She recorded a heartbreaking farewell message for her two children, then 13 and 9 years old.
But Tecelra, a new US-based treatment approved by the medicines regulator in 2024, could be the solution for patients like Graham-Bowman.
His general practitioner, Vivek Bhadri, said he was impressed by the “game-changing” treatment, which takes the patient’s T cells and sends them to a laboratory, where they are “reprogrammed (and) reconstructed to identify a specific protein on the surface of the Synovial Sarcoma cells.”
“After a few weeks, these T cells are reinfused into the patient, and with this new target on them, they can seek out and destroy Synovial Sarcoma cells,” he said.
Dr Bhadri said about 40 per cent of patients responded to the treatment.
“And the latest long-term follow-up shows that about 25 percent of them are still alive after three years,” he said.
“So that’s remarkable.”
Despite the promising results of the new treatment, it costs approximately $2 million.
Graham-Bowman applied for the federal government’s Overseas Medical Treatment Programme, overseen by Health Minister Mark Butler.
He told 60 Minutes the program was a “last resort” for Australians needing treatment not yet available in Australia.
He said a “rigorous” clinical assessment was carried out before taxpayer funds were used to send the patient abroad.
“The government will support people to access this treatment,” he said.
Graham-Bowman, now 35, flew to the US for her treatment, which she said was showing signs of being effective
“One of the tumors grew from about 7cm to 1cm,” he said.
“One is stable and I think the other one has gone from 4cm to 1cm and there is no disease anywhere else.”
He said he started feeling the effects after two weeks of treatment.
Mr Butler said the treatment had been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, giving it the green light for general use in other countries, including Australia.
“(This) means companies can start rolling this out to markets like Australia and other patients can get the same benefit that you have,” the mother of two told the mother of two.
“If we see this happen, it will be huge and life-saving,” he said.
“So that’s great to hear.”
