Whanganui-born writer, businessman, comedian and cancer treatment campaigner David Downs has been named as a New Zealander of the Year semi-finalist.
Photo / Paul Taylor
Whanganui-born writer, businessman, comedian and cancer treatment campaigner David Downs has been named as a New Zealander of the Year semi-finalist.
Photo / Paul Taylor
Whanganui-born cancer survivor David Downs has been named as a semi-finalist for the 2020 New Zealander of the Year awards.
Downs is one of the top 10 nominees recognised for their inspiration and leadership, which contributes to the wellbeing of the country.
For the past year, he has been leadingthe Down with Cancer Campaign with the aim of raising $1 million to fund a clinical CAR T-cell therapy trial at New Zealand's Malaghan Institute in Wellington.
CAR T-cell therapy is a type of blood cancer treatment that programmes a patient's own altered white blood cells to kill cancer cells and Downs knows first-hand how beneficial the treatment can be because it halted his non-Hodgkin lymphoma two years ago.
Things were looking bleak for the comedian, writer and businessman in 2017 when chemotherapy had failed to treat his cancer but, in a life-saving moment, he was accepted to participate in a clinical trial for CAR T-cell therapy at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
With his wife Katherine and their three sons, he travelled to the USA before Christmas 2017 and received the life-saving CAR T-cell therapy on Boxing Day.
It turned out the treatment was less expensive than anticipated and ended up costing around $350,000.
Downs has also made many subsequent trips to Boston for follow-up blood tests and said he knows the costs would be out of reach for many New Zealanders.
David Downs with his wife Katherine and son Joshua at their home in Devonport. Photo / File
Two years later, he is still in remission and describes himself as a "genetically modified organism" who was lucky enough to find a "fairy-tale outcome" which should be available for others.
Through awareness-raising public speaking events and sales of his book A Mild Touch of the Cancer published in July this year, he has raised $300,000 towards establishing CAR T-cell therapy in New Zealand.
Malaghan Institute director Professor Graham Le Gros said it will be the first such trial in New Zealand and stresses that it will be a preliminary one.
"The treatment the Malaghan Institute is working on has been developed as a third-generation CAR T-cell therapy, which is hoped to be more effective and easier to deliver than the treatments available elsewhere."
The treatment targets B-cell cancers, such as certain types of leukaemia, lymphoma and myelomas, and if the preliminary results are favourable, a second trial will offer treatment to up to 13 people who have exhausted all other treatment options.
Downs' parents Maureen and Ted, who live in Whanganui, say they could not be prouder of their son.
"He could just be relieved for himself and get on with his life," Maureen said.
"We are so proud that he is working to give other people in New Zealand a chance."
The three finalists of the 2020 New Zealander of the Year award will be announced in January and the winner will be named at an awards ceremony in Auckland on February 20.
