OU Health Uses New FDA-Approved Treatment For Some Colon Cancer Patients

March is Colon Cancer Awareness Month and an OU Health doctor said colon cancer is on the rise in younger and younger patients.

A new FDA-approved frontline treatment called immunotherapy is making the fight against colon cancer easier for some.

Branden Grove was in his early 30s when he was first diagnosed with colon cancer.

"I was diagnosed February 2017 with colon cancer, stage 3. I never would have thought,” he said.

But fortunately, after surgery, radiation and chemotherapy treatments, he went into remission.

Until the cancer came back, and the chemo took a serious toll.

"I’d be fine one minute and then nauseated the next," he said.

That's when Grove found an OU Health doctor who said he qualified for a frontline treatment called immunotherapy. For Grove, it made all the difference.

"Immunotherapy has been great to me. You don't have the side effects like chemo. I’m not sick. It doesn't make me tired,” Grove said.

But what is immunotherapy?

"Immunotherapy is really using their own immune system to fight the cancer. You give them immunotherapy and unleash their own immune system," OU Health Dr. Susanna Ulahann said.

After two years, Grove is free of cancer.

"His scans show no cancer. There are no cancer on his scans,” Ulahann said.

Grove wants other to know there's other treatment options for colon cancer.

"It's not a death sentence and there wasn't much information when I was first diagnosed and I would like to lend a helping hand to people,” Grove said.