Please help

[Jordan1]

My father has bowel cancer with possible spread. We have been told he is unsuitable for surgery and chemo due to him having copd. I keep reading about immunotherapy but when I ask his dr I get no joy, can anyone help in any way at all, this is particularly bitter because he was having yearly colonoscopies due to bowel cancer being hereditary and they told him they missed the cancer for 8 years, totally devastated and in need of help , any help much appreciated 

[Lolie]

I do think a second opinion is called for.  It sounds like they haven't yet established the exact extent of the cancer and are making the decision about what treatment to offer based on your father's general state of health.

Immunotherapy is generally not approved for use as a first line treatment - it's only approved for use when conventional first line treatments have failed.

You could ask your doctors to look into trials, but the COPD may be a barrier to accessing these, too.

[Carlz9]

Hi Jordan, 

I have colon cancer and I am on chemo and immunotherapy. The immunotherapy for bowel cancer isn't great, unlike melanoma and some other cancers. They need to do DNA testing on a biopsy, they hopefully took this when they found the tumour? And then depending on the results, either wild-type RAS or mutated RAS, they can work out what is best. I don't know what qualifies patients under the PBS though. Be aware these have some bad side effects and need to be carefully considered, as they are not a cure, but might slow things down a bit.

I hope this helps, if you have any questions I am happy to help with my very limited knowledge. 

Carly

[Jordan1]

Hi Carly Thankyou for your reply, I wasn’t aware of the RAS thing but I will look into it

i wish you all the very best and hope you get better soon 

thanks again xx

[Jordan1]

Thankyou for taking the time to help xx