GILBERT, AZ — Glen Polyak thought he was out of options when his Stage 4 melanoma spread to his brain, until he became only the second Banner Health patient to receive an innovative new cell therapy treatment.
The Eastern Arizona man had been battling cancer for years, and doctors told him his dangerous melanoma mutation made his condition nearly untreatable.
In 2024, tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy emerged. It’s the first and only FDA-approved treatment for metastatic melanoma tumors which are non-responsive to other treatments or cannot be taken out.
"There is no other treatment that can work for him,” Dr. Yazan Samhouri said. “It's lifesaving."
The therapy involves harvesting immune cells within the tumor, then sending them to a lab before re-injecting them back into the tumor later.
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"We grow them and we activate them. The process takes around three to four weeks, and then we put them in a small bag, which is billions of cells, and we give them back to the patients intravenously," Samhouri said. "And now they are smarter than the tumor, so they know how to go, track, back to the tumor and kill the tumor cells, which was something they could not do before."
Polyak has been living in his RV with his wife behind the Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center since October while he received the therapy.
"I honestly didn't think I was going to live long enough to be able to have the procedure done," Polyak said. "I'm pretty much back. I really am. I don't have the energy still, but it's coming."
While currently only approved for metastatic melanoma, doctors hope to expand the therapy's use to other cancers in the future.
"We rely on the durability of this kind of therapy to cure cancers. So that's really the hope," Samhouri said.
The couple, who love to travel and camp, are looking forward to resuming their adventures. Polyak's wife, Bonni, said his 100-day scan this month will determine his next steps, but they're optimistic about the future.
“We'll see what it looks like. But then the next day we're out of here, we're going camping," Bonni Polyak said.
Glen Polyak said his family’s support and his strong faith kept him rooted in a journey he describes as nothing short of miraculous.
"Grace of God. I am a miracle, and I believe it,” Polyak said.
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