New hope: Oscar Chalupsky starts ‘life-saving’ treatment
· The South African
Oscar Chalupsky has shared the good news that his body is responding well to his new “life-saving treatment”. The decorated canoe and surfski athlete has been battling the advanced stage of multiple myeloma, a bone marrow cancer, as well as an aggressive form of skin cancer in recent years.
This week, he started his last line of treatment, an immunotherapy drug called Talvey.
Visit somethingsdifferent.biz for more information.
OSCAR CHALUPSKY REVEALS POSITIVE HEALTH UPDATE
On his Facebook page, Oscar Chalupsky shared a positive health update after a rough few days.
Earlier this week, the 63-year-old revealed his “dire” blood test results, with dangerously low vitals.
The former 12-time World Molokai Surfski Champion shared that the turnaround, albeit small, was due to his new course of treatment. On Thursday, Oscar was administered his first dose, but developed a serious reaction to it not long after.
His second dose, on Saturday, yielded better results.
Posting a picture from Mediclinic in Constantiaberg, he shared: “Everything is looking good. My bloods are not perfect, but they are on the right trajectory, and that is the most important thing”
He continues in the caption: “There have been slight improvements across all my blood markers. I am not out of the woods yet, but I am moving in the right direction. My blood pressure is much better, and the Cytokine Release Syndrome is now behind me.
After my blood transfusion today, I can finally leave the hospital 🙌🏻
“My next Talvey treatment will be the FULL DOSE on Tuesday morning. I am hoping it puts me back on the path to exercising and travelling again”.
WHAT IS TALVEY?
In 2019, Oscar Chalupsky was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a bone marrow/blood cancer, and later diagnosed with an aggressive secondary skin cancer.
The former Ironman champion has recently suffered serious complications, including sepsis, which required hospitalisation.
Doctors are treating both his cancers with a combination of chemotherapy, immunotherapy and radiation.
Oscar Chalupsky was hoping to begin CAR-T therapy, an advanced type of immunotherapy that genetically engineers a patient’s own T cells. However, doctors have ruled it out, stating that his cancers were too advanced for the treatment.
His last line of treatment is Talvey, also an immunotherapy drug that helps the immune system attack and kill cancer cells.
The hope of the treatment is for it to reduce the amount of cancer in Osca’s body, slow or stop the progression of his myeloma and potentially give him more time with the disease under control.