Blood Cancer Awareness & Patient with Acute Myeloid Leukemia

CU cancer center member Dan Pollyea, MD, MS, clinical director of leukemia services at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, discusses navigating patient care from initial diagnosis, through treatment, as well as new research into novel treatments that could benefit those in need. His patient Dave Cade, who was diagnosed with a type of blood cancer called acute myeloid leukemia (AML), details his journey to diagnosis and how innovative new research impacted his treatment plan.

Dr. Daniel Pollyea, University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Dr. Pollyea received his MD degree from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. He stayed at the University of Chicago Hospital for his residency in Internal Medicine and served as Chief Medical Resident at Cook County Hospital. He then completed his fellowship training in Hematology and Oncology at Stanford University, where he also completed a Master’s degree in Epidemiology with an emphasis on biostatistics and clinical trial design. In 2011 he came to the University of Colorado where he is currently the Clinical Director of Leukemia Services. Dr. Pollyea has served as the Principal Investigator of multiple early-phase clinical trials, and has received funding for his work from the American Society of Hematology, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He has over 80 peer-reviewed publications and has spoken at many national and international meetings.

In 2016, Dave Cade was told he had only a few weeks to live. He visited his doctor after feeling so ill he could barely walk, and was then diagnosed with an aggressive type of blood cancer called acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Worried about the impact of intense chemotherapy, his doctors provided an alternative solution— a chemo-free treatment regimen that was available through a clinical trial. It’s been three years since he received treatment and remission status, and now his treatment is FDA approved to help a wide variety of people with several types of cancer. Dave hopes to share his story in the hopes it helps others talk to their doctor to find solutions that work for them.