Pathwork Diagnostics

Here are just a few samples of client testimonials. If you would like to submit a testimonial of your experience with the Pathwork Tissue of Origin Test, please click here.

Molly Schaechtele

Cancer Survivor and Poet

Molly Schaechtele has a long history with cancer. Her story illustrates the complexity of diagnosing tumor origins – due to multiple tumor sites, unexpected metastases and other complications -- that occur in some cancer patients.

Molly’s original diagnosis came  in 1989 with Stage I colon cancer, with a recurrence in 1990 that was treated with surgery. A lump in her breast in 2006 was diagnosed as Stage II breast cancer and she received chemotherapy.

When she experienced back pain later that year, her doctors though her breast cancer had spread to her spine. Nothing was found there, but they did identify a lesion in her liver in March 2007. The doctors  expected  the liver lesion to shrink due to the chemotherapy she was receiving for breast cancer, but in May of that year the lesion had grown larger and there was also an egg-sized tumor in her pancreas.

Her doctors began to suspect that they were seeing a metastasis of her original colon cancer. So Molly was started on colon cancer-specific chemotherapy. Concerned about the various sites of her cancer, Molly visited another oncologist in late 2009 for a second opinion. This oncologist recommended the Tissue of Origin Test to provide a more definitive identification of the origin of her tumors and thus determine the most targeted course of treatment. The test compared the genetic makeup of Molly’s cancer cells to the known genetic characteristics of 15 different types of cancer cells, including breast and colon cancer.

The Tissue of Origin Test results showed that not only were  Molly’s cancer cells most similar to colorectal (colon) cancer, but a diagnosis of breast cancer was ruled out. The oncologist concluded that Molly’s various cancers were indeed a recurrence and metastasis of her original colon cancer 18 years earlier. Additional targeted chemotherapy for colon cancer was then initiated to target the colon cancer cells in the various locations where they had metastasized.

“It took away the doubt,” Molly said about the Tissue of Origin Test. “It’s not fair that people should be going thru treatment and taking all these drugs if you don’t know if it’s doing any good. At least now we know we are treating the right thing.”

In spite of the challenges she has faced, Molly has maintained a strongly positive attitude and in fact has discovered her calling as a poet. As a member of a breast cancer support group several years ago, she would drive home from meetings as find that her thoughts from the group naturally turned into poems. When she read these poems that were both heartfelt and humorous to the group, they responded enthusiastically, leading her to turn them into her first poetry book, Tickle Me Pink. After colon cancer, Molly’s poems became more serious but still came out positive and have been collected in a second book.

“I don’t write any sad poems,” she explained. “My little brother, who is so upset by my diagnosis, watched me dance down the street at a festival and said, ‘How can you be so happy?’ I told him I can be happy with cancer or sad with cancer. Either way, I have cancer. So why not enjoy life? Otherwise, you’re just dying early.”

Lance Shackelford

Cancer Survivor, Farmer and Computer Programming Pioneer
Lance Shackelford, a 72 year old retired Medicare patient, is a native of Amarillo, Texas. He is proud to have been one of the first generation of computer programmers, starting as a programmer in 1965 when the computer field was in its infancy.

Soon he joined aerospace subcontractor Lockheed Electronics and worked at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He then returned to Texas, where he spent the next 26 years at an aircraft technology company serving the U.S. Air Force. Because of happy memories of his childhood ranch in Amarillo, Lance acquired 63 acres east of Commerce, Texas, where to this day he raises hay to sell to cattle ranchers.

In addition to farm labor, Lance had always followed a strenuous exercise regimen as a jogger, long distance cyclist, and handball and racquetball player. He watches his diet and follows his doctors advice to help maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Lance’s battle with cancer started when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in April 2009. At that time, he was treated with androgen deprivation therapy and pelvic radiation. His level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a possible indicator of prostate cancer activity, was reduced significantly.

In May 2010, Lance had a tumor on the left area of his chest outside the rib cage. This tumor was considered highly aggressive and very rapidly growing, reaching the size of an egg, while additional tumors inside the rib cage were detected.

The tumor outside the rib cage was surgically removed, and pathology results suggested it was a high-grade neuroendocrine carcinoma, a rare and aggressive, fast-growing form of cancer which is difficult to diagnose and treat.

Lance recalls, “At first there was no uncertainty. The diagnosis was neuroendocrine cancer and the treatment was described as non-curative. Then about a week later my oncologist called and said he was not satisfied with the diagnosis and they were continuing to search for the origin of the cancer. Then I began to hope that prayers had been answered and I had a chance. I had such a feeling of doom before that phone call.”

Though the tumor was not positive for prostate markers, Lance’s oncologist also suspected the tumor could be a metastasis of the original prostate cancer that had become “undifferentiated” meaning it had evolved from the prostate cancer. Lance was started on prostate cancer chemotherapy.

At the same time, the Pathwork Tissue of Origin Test was performed. The result strongly indicated germ cell tumor – surprising in a man of Lance’s age -- and clearly ruled out prostate cancer. This was good news for Lance because germ cell cancer is much more treatable.

“I was very relieved when the diagnosis was changed to germ cell cancer, and I was told that there was a good chance of a cure with treatment,” he explains. “The treatment would be hard on the body, but at least I now had a chance of recovery.”

After the TOO test result, Lance’s treatment was changed to chemotherapy for germ cell cancer. Lance received four rounds of the chemotherapy that ended in October 2010. Since then, the tumors in his chest have shrunk and no new tumors have been detected.

“I think finding the correct diagnosis was the difference between life and death. I am very thankful that my oncologist and the people at Pathwork Diagnostic continued their search.”

Though he required some help during the course of his cancer treatment, he has returned to running his hay farm single-handed. He has resumed an exercise program as well, walking two miles several times a week in his pastures and mowing his own acre-size lawn with a push mower. Recently Lance and his wife were able to take a cruise vacation they had planned, from the Port of Galveston to Key West and the Bahamas.

Stella Carroll

Cancer Survivor and Committed Volunteer

Mrs. Carroll, a 74 year old retired schoolteacher living in Oklahoma, was diagnosed with cancer after she noticed a swelling in her left armpit. Her complex case illustrates the challenges oncologists and patients may face when the primary cancer tumor is difficult to identify.

In her career as a teacher, Mrs. Carroll had taught reading, math and physical education to elementary school students, and had coached softball. She recalls her favorite moments as the times when children began to learn to read. “Teaching kids to read even a little is a major accomplishment for them,” she explains. “With some you have to work and work but at the end of school it is wonderful for me and for them to see the progress they have made.”

Mrs. Carroll and her husband were avid square dancers from early in their marriage and for many years they have gone on camping trips once a month with a group of friends. Travel, church activities and crochet projects filled the rest of the time in her busy life.
An MRI done after Mrs. Carroll noticed the swelling in her armpit showed suspicious lesions in the left breast and chest wall. Her oncologist initially suspected breast cancer. However, a CT scan of the abdomen also revealed thickening in the colon and in lymph nodes in the bowel area. And immunohistochemical staining of the tumor specimen from Mrs. Carroll’s armpit did not seem to indicate breast cancer; instead, the staining pattern was consistent with cancer that could have originated in the ovary, cervix, esophagus, head or neck.

A CT scan of the chest and upper and lower endoscopies were negative. The oncologist still suspected breast cancer though he realized that the tumors could also be metastases of cancer from elsewhere such as the colon.

“I lost two brothers to cancer, and I believed I was not going to live,” Mrs. Carroll recalls.

To provide more information, the oncologist ordered the Pathwork Tissue of Origin Test, which compares the genomic characteristics of the tumor cells to 15 different types of cancer cells. Results of the Tissue of Origin Test indicated breast cancer with high confidence and ruled out 14 other tissue types, including ovarian and colorectal. Mrs. Carroll was reassured to receive a definitive diagnosis.

“When the Tissue of Origin Test showed it was breast cancer, that relieved me tremendously to know we could get started with the treatment, I kept thinking what if it’s not breast cancer but something even worse. In the back of my mind, I thought I was going to die until they found out what was wrong.”

Mrs. Carroll was treated with a chemotherapy regimen of two different breast cancer-specific medications, which she received every other week for 8 weeks. That was followed by 12 weeks of two other breast cancer-specific medications. The chemotherapy and medication regime was followed recently by a mastectomy and Mrs. Carroll has now started six weeks of radiation treatment.

“I was determined to do everything I ever did even though I had cancer,” she explains. Though she copes with the side effects of the chemotherapy, she has continued to volunteer 4 hours a day at her local senior center, helping feed 70-100 people each day.

“The people at the senior center are my community and my encouragement,” Mrs. Carroll explained. Except for two days for her surgery, she has not missed a single day. The other cancer survivors there provide constant support for her and for one another.

Since her diagnosis, Mrs. Carroll has traveled to visit family a couple of times. She and her husband have a new camping trip in the works, and she keeps her flower beds maintained, though she accepts help from her grandson with mowing the lawn.