Read Time: 3 minutes
Takeaways:
- David Samuel’s experience with his father’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis drives his work as a clinical research manager.
- A family history of cancer led David to pursue genetic testing and take a proactive approach to his own care.
Impact: Through cutting-edge clinical trials, Huntsman Cancer Institute brings tomorrow's standard of care to patients today.
At 15, David Samuel learned his father had cancer in a conversation he wasn’t meant to hear.
It was Christmas, and his parents were having a private conversation with his aunt and uncle. His father revealed to them that he had been diagnosed a few months earlier with pancreatic cancer.
“I took a second look at him, and I realized that head to toe, every inch of his skin, the whites of his eyes, his nails, were all yellow, like a banana,” David recalls. “I thought, ‘How did I miss this?’”
While the way he found out was jarring, what he learned next was even more shocking: His father’s prognosis was only six months.
Unexpected Calm During Uncertainty
The months that followed were filled with hospital visits and a growing realization that his time with his father might be cut short.
“That was very scary. I won't lie,” David says. “There were definitely a couple of nights I sat on the floor in the hallway of the hospital, just bawling my eyes out, because how else do you process that?”
During this time of fear and uncertainty, David unexpectedly found a sense of comfort during his visits to the hospital.
“Something about that hand sanitizer, the almost sterile smell, and seeing everybody around me moving like a well-oiled machine, I could feel my heart rate dropping,” he remembers. “I always kind of knew that I was interested in medicine, but what I didn’t expect was the sense of peace and calm. I knew that's where I needed to be in life. That's what I wanted to do.”
Today, David is a program manager in the Clinical Trials Office at Huntsman Cancer Institute, where he leads a team of clinical research coordinators and research data coordinators supporting lymphoma clinical trials. His team helps ensure studies run safely and efficiently, reviewing patient eligibility, managing workloads, and addressing challenges as they arise.
“I don’t know that I’d be where I am today in clinical research if it wasn’t for that experience,” he says.
More Time Through Research
David’s father received several cutting-edge treatments that at the time had recently been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including a Whipple procedure, a complex surgery to remove tumors in the pancreas.
These options were only available because of years of research and clinical trials, David points out.
Originally given six months to live, his father lived for 14 months.
“Thanks to these new state-of-the-art treatments, I got almost eight more months with my father than I thought I would.”
For David, those extra months made the impact of research personal and lasting.
Understanding Genetic Risk
As David got older, he began to understand just how deeply cancer ran in his family.
“Cancer is prolific throughout my family tree,” he says. “On my father’s side, almost every relative we had passed away due to cancer.”
In 2022, a year after he began working in the Clinical Trials Office, David decided to get genetic testing due to his family history of cancer. He visited the Family Cancer Assessment Clinic at Huntsman Cancer Institute, where he confirmed that he has the BRCA1 mutation, a genetic marker that significantly increases the risk of developing breast, prostate, and pancreatic cancers.
“I'm living under the assumption that one day I'm going to get cancer,” David says. “And by pursuing cancer research, I hope to be able to make sure that when I do get my diagnosis, the best possible treatments are available.”
Understanding his genetic risk has also helped him to take action with his health. David now has a plan to get early cancer screenings. Currently, he stays on top of getting his annual physical and doing lab tests to check his liver enzymes, blood counts, and more.
The knowledge of his cancer risk has also changed his outlook on life.
“I better live it to the fullest and enjoy it and bring the light that I can, because tomorrow is not guaranteed,” David says. “I shouldn't wait to do things that I want to do. I need to make them happen when I can.”
Paying Extra Time Forward
David’s personal experience shapes how he approaches his work and why it matters so deeply to him.
“I love working here. It's an amazing place to be,” he says. “At the end of the day, it’s about making sure patients are getting the best, safest care we can give them.”
Through clinical trials, Huntsman Cancer Institute works to expand possibilities for patients, developing new treatments that can extend lives and improve outcomes for people today and in the future. For David, being part of that work is one way he feels he can help Huntsman Cancer Institute patients benefit from advances in research, just like his father did.