Frank Hegerty: Ambassador

“As an athlete I thought I had a pretty reasonable respect for fatigue and managing your body through exhaustion. This has taken that appreciation to a whole new level.”
 
Frank Hegerty is a former Australian rower, National Champion and a dual Olympian and Olympic Silver medalist. He is also living with lymphoma.

 

Frank shares his patient story with us in the lead up to Legs Out for Lymphoma this March, of which he is an ambassador.
 
“Please remain vigilant with your health. Take steps to look into niggles and ailments and form a relationship with your GP. We are not always bulletproof.”

 

We are very happy to add a positive update – as of last week Frank is in remission! The next step is to undergo a course of radiation.
 
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Please note: Lymphoma Australia staff are only able to reply to emails sent in English language.

For people living in Australia, we can offer a phone translation service. Have your nurse or English speaking relative call us to arrange this.

Useful Definitions

  • Refractory: This means the lymphoma does not get better with treatment. The treatment didn’t work as hoped.
  • Relapsed: This means the lymphoma came back after being gone for a while after treatment.
  • 2nd line treatment: This is the second treatment you get if the first one didn’t work (refractory) or if the lymphoma comes back (relapse).
  • 3rd line treatment: This is the third treatment you get if the second one didn’t work or the lymphoma comes back again.
  • Approved: Available in Australia and listed by the Therapeutics Goods Administration (TGA).
  • Funded: Costs are covered for Australian citizens. This means if you have a Medicare card, you shouldn’t have to pay for the treatment.[WO7]

You need healthy T-cells to make CAR T-cells. For this reason, CAR T-cell therapy cannot be used if you have a T-cell lymphoma – yet.

For more information on CAR T-cells and T-cell lymphoma click here. 

Special Note: Although your T-cells are removed from your blood for CAR T-cell therapy, most of our T-cells live outside of our blood – in our lymph nodes, thymus, spleen and other organs.