It was midsummer 2010 when Yaron Panov was told he only had a few months to live. Doctors had diagnosed him with a form of malignant liposarcoma, the same rare and aggressive cancer afflicting Councillor Rob Ford.

Six years later, Panov is alive and well thanks to several, small beady-eyed mice that unshackled him from the dire prognosis.

“He was given a death sentence but he now hopes to see his grandchildren and God willing, he will,” said his wife, Dr. Rochelle Schwartz.

Now, Ford, Toronto’s former mayor, is turning to the same treatment through a clinical trial at Mount Sinai Hospital named after Panov. The program will make Ford one of the first patients in Canada to take advantage of the U.S.-Israeli biotech firm Champions Oncology’s “TumorGraft” platform.

The “precision chemotherapy” treatment relies on mouse ‘avatars’ — essentially your own personal medical guinea pig — to help oncologists identify the most effective treatment for a specific patient.

“You actually have a ‘mini-me’ with the tumour implanted in mice,” said Schwartz.

By testing various drug cocktails on the rodent, the technique spares the patient from enduring the painful toxic effects of chemotherapies.

Schwartz discovered the technology after her husband’s medical team said he had months to live. Local doctors equated the animal models to “science fiction.” Despite their dismal prognosis, the couple flew to the private company south of the border in a desperate attempt to save Yanov’s life.

The mice tests arrived four months later, suggesting a colon cancer drug called Stivarga. It suppressed Panov’s tumour and kept the cancer at bay.

“If we had stayed in Toronto, the option of using an off-label drug like Stivarga would have never come up,” said Schwartz. “Had he taken the chemo offered in Toronto, he would have died.”

The new lease on life, however, didn’t come cheap.

Both Panov and Schwartz, who live in Thornhill, have paid nearly $350,000 for the treatment so far. Ontario’s medicare bureau, OHIP, refused to reimburse them for the bills for the experimental treatment so the couple sold their home. No matter the financial toll and anguish, both Panov and Schwartz said it was worth it.

“I may not have a house but I have a beautiful husband,” she said.

Further, Panov said the TumorGraft models represent “an opening for a better hope.”

“At the end of the day, if it is money or life, you choose life,” he said. “This technology does exist and, for us, it is a turning point.”

The couple has since made it their personal mission to ensure other Canadians have access to the technology. Along with Schwartz’s medical partner, Dr. Sharla Lichtman, they have fundraised more than $1 million in the past two years for the cause.

Their efforts led to the launch of the Panov Program trial at Mount Sinai Hospital, the first clinical site that has enrolled patients — including Ford — in the newly-opened study.

The research initiative will test just how well Champions’ approach works. It will involve testing chemotherapies on a cancer patient’s mice avatars and then applying those effective treatments to the patient.

The end goal will be to evaluate whether the therapies perform as well on the patients as it did in their mice.

Still, the mice aren’t a proven solution to prolonging life.

First, there are no guarantees that an implanted tumour will grow, although Champions’ track record suggests there is a roughly 65-per-cent chance. There are also cases where patients have died before the whole process — which takes four months — is completed.

“I really hope (Rob) has that time,” said Panov.

In light of his readmission to Mount Sinai’s cancer ward for chemotherapy, Ford’s family launched a website last weekend called GetWellRobFord.comand invited the public to share their stories of cancer survival and support.

Ford’s brother Doug told the Star the site “really picks up (Rob’s) spirits.”

“He’s very grateful for the outpouring of support he is receiving,” he said.

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The ‘TumorGraft’ experimental cancer process, explained

Regular lab rats and Petri dishes may soon be out of a job, thanks to an army of mouse ‘avatars‘. The rodents form the basis of a new cutting-edge tool that allows doctors to treat human tumours in mice.

U.S.-based Champions of Oncology’s ‘TumorGraft’ process recently made its Canadian debut at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital as part of a trial for treating sarcoma.

The Star spoke with the company’s chief medical officer Dr. Angela Davies to learn more about the steps involved in outfitting a mouse with a human disease.

Surgery

The medical marvel starts in the operating room. A sample of a cancer patient’s live tumour — removed or biopsied by a surgeon — is set aside to be grafted into a mouse.

Implantation

At a separate laboratory outside the hospital — Champions Oncology’s Canadian lab is based out of Mississauga — technicians cut the harvested cancerous tissue into small pieces. One incision and a lump later and those same patches are embedded underneath the skin of specially-bred mice.

Growth

Once implanted, scientists evaluate how well the tumour fragment took to its rodent host. In most cases, this takes two months or longer and not every tumour implant is guaranteed to take hold. Several factors can impact its development, depending on how aggressive and widespread the cancer is.

Based on Champions’ previous tests, this step was successful approximately 65 per cent of the time.

Testing

Testing involves the patients’ doctor, who selects a chemo cocktail to test on the mice while scientists track how the “avatar” responds. A pseudo-medical report card is generated once the treatment finishes, revealing which therapy was most effective for treating the patient’s cancer.

According to Champions, a drug that benefited the patient, either through stabilization or regression of their disease, was identified 90 per cent of the time.

Banking

If a patient and physician choose not to move ahead with drug testing immediately, the tumour can be frozen for future tests. These banked cancer tissues also maintain their biological characteristics in the event of cancer progression or recurrence.

With files from David Rider