Page 15 (1/2)

He took one look athim like that

Fifteen minutes later, I had the entire story, and it’s some crazy, whacked-out sci-fi shit too

Apparently Duke is running a phase-one clinical trial--whatever the fuck that means--to try to eradicate a disease that is essentially terlio-whatever-the-fuck-he-called-it is fatal No cure Nada You’re going to die

Except apparently Duke engineered sos, o, a half-teaspoon cocktail injected right into the center of his recurrent brain tumor

I didn’t understand all of the technicalities, but Dave was very educated on as going on Apparently the virus breaks down the cancer so that it’s not invisible to the body’s own immune system The theory is that then the immune syste pocus, but apparently the clinical trials have been working

Somewhat

About 50 percent of the patients have done well, while 50 percent have died

Still, as Dave says, "What did I have to lose? Fifty-fifty odds are pretty da at zero percent chance of survival"

The shitter was, those patients that died were probably due to overdosing of the drug In a phase-one clinical, as he described it, the ure out thethe patient

So far, it appeared to be working for Dave Perhaps a little too well, because once the virus started working on the tu it to triple in size and put pressure on his brain Dave had to go in for an ened to reduce the swelling

And aood now that the inflammation is under control He’s just under watch and will have another MRI to check the tu ame

"Vale never hesitated," Dave told uilt "Quit her job without even discussing it withon with the Cold Fury," I observed

"Not luck," Dave said slyly "Called in a favor to Brian Brannon We went to college together"