MADISON, Wis. – Judi Trampf has been living her life to the fullest with her wife, Katy Heyning, thanks to a clinical trial at UW Health | Carbone Cancer Center.
Trampf was first diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2016. She contacted her doctor after experiencing light spotting, something she might have otherwise ignored if a friend had not recently been diagnosed with uterine cancer after experiencing that same symptom.
Her friend had shared that unusual vaginal bleeding, including heavy bleeding between periods or any postmenopausal bleeding, can be a sign of uterine cancer, leading her to seek a medical exam.
“Bleeding after menopause is never normal,” said Dr. Ryan Spencer, gynecologic oncologist, Carbone Cancer Center, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and Trampf’s oncologist. “There are certainly reasons to have bleeding other than uterine cancer, but we recommend everyone who is postmenopausal and who has even the smallest amount see their physician immediately.”
Trampf’s prompt response led to a very early cancer diagnosis. She had surgery to remove her uterus, cervix and surrounding lymph nodes. Because she was diagnosed so early, the odds were very slim that her cancer would come back.
About four years later while living in New York, Trampf experienced pain in her right hip. The pain got worse over time, and she was losing mobility in that leg. While she thought it could have been caused by an exercise injury due to an online workout class she was taking in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, a CT scan found a tumor the size of a softball in her right hip, and a biopsy confirmed it was a recurrence of uterine cancer.
Trampf started radiation treatments in June 2021 while she and her wife were moving back to Madison. She was told by her care team that she had only months left to live with available chemotherapy treatments.
“I didn’t like the prognosis of ‘get your affairs in order,’” she said.
Trampf found out about two national clinical trials that could be right for her, and when she asked her care team about options, they suggested the same two trials, both available at Carbone. She began a trial in September 2021 that tests a new treatment for advanced or recurrent uterine cancer. The study at Carbone is led by Dr. Ellen Hartenbach, chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, UW School of Medicine and Public Health, and gynecologic oncologist at Carbone. The trial has multiple parts, according to Hartenbach. In addition to providing patients with the current standard chemotherapy treatments for their cancer, researchers are evaluating the benefit of adding immunotherapy for one group of patients. Another group receives both immunotherapy and a PARP inhibitor, which is a targeted therapy meant to enhance the immune response.
The remaining patients receive standard chemotherapy and an inactive version of the study drugs as a placebo. This is to ensure a reliable determination of whether the new treatments are a better approach. The study is double-blinded, meaning that neither patients nor the clinic staff know who is receiving which combination.
Trampf said she was willing to try any option that could give her the potential for improvement, and more time to do what she loves.
“You have nothing to lose if you’re in a situation like mine and you’re offered a clinical trial,” she said. “If you get the placebo, you’re no worse off, but you can also potentially get early access to beneficial therapies.”
While it is not known which group she was in, the size of Trampf’s tumor in her hip since significantly decreased, with no new growth in about two years. She has worked hard to regain her mobility and improve her overall health.
Hartenbach said a recent report of the study findings so far showed the added treatments are benefiting those patients, and immunotherapy is now an FDA-approved treatment for this form of uterine cancer.
Hartenbach said clinical trials are not only a crucial step to validating whether treatments are safe and effective and creating new standards of care, but they offer patients a new treatment opportunity that may benefit them.
“By participating in this trial, Judi could potentially access immunotherapy about two years sooner than in a regular care setting,” Hartenbach said.
Trampf is grateful not only for her own experience in the clinical trial but also for helping to bring more treatment options to patients diagnosed with cancer.
“It’s been pretty exciting to be part of this and to know that the trial is already helping other people,” Trampf said.
Trampf and Heyning are gardening, visiting friends and family and traveling frequently. In September 2023, they visited Greece and Turkey.
Because of her strong response to the trial, Trampf, wants to make the most of every day.
“When you experience something like this, and you find the care that helps make you feel better and stronger, you can look at your life and the things you want to see and do, and ‘someday’ becomes ‘today,’” she said.
While this clinical trial is closed to new participants, all clinical trials that are currently open can be found at clinicaltrials.uwhealth.org.
