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Former National Basketball Association (NBA) centre Jason Collins is undergoing experimental chemotherapy treatment in Singapore to treat a deadly form of brain cancer.
In a letter published with American sports network ESPN on Dec 11, the 47-year-old announced he has Stage 4 glioblastoma, which is the most aggressive form of brain cancer.
A biopsy found a baseball-sized tumour growing at a rate of 30 per cent, Collins told the network, more than the 20 per cent growth rate that is considered severe. Collins, who played for various NBA teams, including the New Jersey Nets and Atlanta Hawks, added that he would be dead within six weeks to three months if nothing were done.
In a video interview with ESPN published on Dec 11, he said he received approval for treatment in Singapore within 48 hours, and was preparing to be in the city-state for seven to eight weeks.
The experimental treatment he is receiving is not approved in the US.
Explaining the treatment, Collins said it involves the use of biopharmaceutical company EnGeneIC’s EnGeneIC Dream Vectors, or EDVs, delivery vehicles that move the drug directly to the tumour.
He said in his letter that the EDVs would seek proteins found only in glioblastomas to deliver their payload past the blood-brain barrier and straight into his tumour.
“The goal is to keep fighting the progress of the tumour long enough for a personalised immunotherapy to be made for me, and to keep me healthy enough to receive that immunotherapy once it’s ready,” he said.
“It’s really high-tech science fiction stuff, but we’re in the city of the future so let’s do some future stuff,” he says from a car in Singapore in the ESPN video.
In his letter, Collins said he had missed a flight to the tennis US Open in August because he could not stay focused on packing, adding that he had experienced “weird symptoms like this” for about two weeks.
His family had also noticed his mental clarity, short-term memory and comprehension disappearing in hours.
Upon doing a biopsy, doctors found the glioblastoma in a butterfly shape – it was already in both hemispheres of the brain.
“My glioblastoma is ‘multiforme’. Imagine a monster with tentacles spreading across the underside of my brain the width of a baseball,” he said.
Collins is the first openly gay athlete in NBA history, and married his partner Brunson Green in May. Collins played for six teams in his 13-year NBA career.
The Straits Times has contacted the Health Sciences Authority and EnGeneIC for more details.
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