How CAR T-Cell Therapy Shaped This Patient’s Myeloma Outcomes

Colleen Mabasa, a patient with multiple myeloma, sat down with CURE for an interview to share her treatment journey with CAR T-cell therapy and the pivotal role self-advocacy played in her care.

After doing her own research about CAR T, Colleen is using her experience to support others in the multiple myeloma community, encouraging patients to approach treatment decisions with confidence. Notably, within approximately one month of receiving CAR T-cell therapy, her scans showed no detectable disease, and she has since achieved measurable residual disease (MRD)–negative status.

Transcript

When you received CAR T-cell therapy and completed treatment, how did it feel to see your scans show no detectable disease so soon afterward, especially after experiencing a prior relapse?

I am very much a glass-half-full kind of person, even when diagnosed with myeloma. When people would say, “Oh, it's an incurable disease,” my thought was that it is an incurable disease now. So, I am very much a glass-half-full kind of person. I knew I was going to get MRD negativity 100%, though I didn't anticipate it would be as fast as it occurred. I had CAR T on January 29, 2025. On February 25, I had my bone marrow biopsy, which showed that I was MRD negative. It was less than a month. I never anticipated it would occur that quickly.

I knew I was always going to get there because I knew I was going into the second line. I knew I had no disease burden, and I knew I didn't have any bridging therapy that was necessary. I knew the inflammation in my body was going to be so much less, so I knew the likelihood that I would do well was great. Even when I met with my doctor, he was telling me, “Our expectations are that you're going to do well. These are possible side effects, absolutely, but we just want you to know that at this point in time, because your disease burden is so low, they could happen, but we don't anticipate it.”

I went in very confident; I just had no idea it would be so soon. Literally, I hadn't even gotten home yet; I was still at Sloan when I had the test and they were like, “Here you go, it worked.” I can't even tell you the mental burden and the space it lifted. When you have myeloma, there's always a thought in the back of your mind like, “I have to plan for this doctor's appointment,” or “I have to have this,” and just having that burden lifted is such an amazing feeling. It let me just be a mom, which is pretty awesome, to be a mom and not have to worry about all these other roles.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

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