When I think of a pioneer I have an image in my head of people heading west across the Americans plains in the 18^th century, riding in a covered wagon pulled by weary oxen.

Karl Trede doesn’t fit that image at all. He is a trim, elegant man who has a ready smile and a fondness for Hawaiian shirts. But he is no less a pioneer for all that. That’s why we profiled him in our 2016 Annual Report.

In 2006 Karl was diagnosed with cancer of the throat. He underwent surgery to remove his vocal chords and thought he had beaten the cancer. A few years later, it came back. That was when Karl became the first person ever treated in a CIRM-funded clinical trial testing a new anti-tumor therapy targeting cancer stem cells that so far has helped hold the disease at bay.

Here is Karl’s story, in his own words:

“I had some follow-up tests and those showed spots in my lungs. Over the course of several years, they saw those spots grow, and we knew the cancer had spread to my lungs. I went to Stanford and was told there was no effective treatment for it, fortunately it was slow growing.

Then one day they said we have a new clinical trial we’re going to start would you be interested in being part of it.

I don’t believe I knew at the time that I was going to be the first one in the trial [now that’s what I call a pioneer] but I thought I’d give it a whirl and I said ‘Sure’. I wasn’t real concerned about being the first in a trial never tested in people before. I figured I was going to have to go someday so I guess if I was the first person and something really went wrong then they’d definitely learn something; so, to me, that was kind of worth my time.

Fortunately, I lasted 13 months, 72 treatments with absolutely no side effects. I consider myself really lucky to have been a part of it.

It was an experience for me, it was eye opening. I got an IV infusion, and the whole process was 4 hours once a week.

Dr. Sikic (the Stanford doctor who oversees the clinical trial) made it a practice of staying in the room with me when I was getting my treatments because they’d never tried it in people, they’d tested it in mice, but hadn’t tested it in people and wanted to make sure they were safe and nothing bad happened.

The main goals of the trial were to define what the side effects were and what the right dose is and they got both of those. So I feel privileged to have been a part of this.

My wife and I (Vita) have four boys. They’re spread out now – two in the San Francisco Bay Area, one in Oregon and one in Nevada. But we like to get together a few times a year. They’re all good cooks, so when we have a family get together there’s a lot of cooking involved.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, in 2015, the boys decided they wanted to have a rib cook-off for up to around 30 people and I can proudly say that I kicked their ass on the rib cook-off. I have an electric cooker and I just cook ‘em slow and long. I do a cranberry sauce, just some home made bbq sauces

I’m a beef guy, I love a good steak, a good ribeye or prime rib, I make a pretty mean Oso bucco, I make a good spaghetti sauce, baked chicken with an asparagus mousse that is pretty good.

I just consider myself a lucky guy.”

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Related Links:

• Stories of Hope: The CIRM Stem Cell Four
• How stem cells are helping change the face of medicine, one pioneering patient at a time
• Stem cell heroes: patients who had life-saving, life-changing treatments inspire CIRM Board