Brett Brooks admits that he “dropped the ball” waiting too long to check back on a slow growing cancer that had presented years prior.

When Brett arrived at the emergency room nearly eight years later, his ankles were swollen, his kidneys were failing, his bladder was full, and his PSA (prostate-specific antigen) numbers were through the roof. The prostate cancer had metastasized and was inoperable.

Brett learned about a clinical trial offering radioligand therapy through the nuclear medicine department at Ridley-Tree Cancer Center. Lutetium-177 specifically targets a molecule on the surface of prostate cancer cells and can damage and kill those cells without indiscriminately attacking healthy ones.

“The therapy helped save my life,” said Brett. “It was all timing – I just happened to get diagnosed when this trial was coming out and I qualified. I was lucky to have this option and these great doctors – everyone made it very easy.”

Ground-breaking studies like this are offered to patients, in part, thanks to ongoing grants from the Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara, which supports the research department at Ridley-Tree Cancer Center.

“The therapy helped save my life… I was lucky to have this option and these great doctors — everyone made it very easy.”