Cancer doesn't play by the rules. She plays dirty. She defies those things that feel to make sense. She arrives as if from nowhere and demands to be seen. She can only be taken seriously. She shouts loudly drowning out any protestations and sets the agenda. She refuses to negotiate and drives the hardest bargain.
And so a new phase is entered. Not a door anyone would wish to open, but one through which countless souls have travelled before us. Across the threshold friendly faces, armed with expert knowledge await. Paclitaxel administered weekly is the weaponry with which this battle will be fought.
Also known by its brand name Taxol, paclitaxel is a potent cancer-fighting drug originally derived from the bark of the Pacific yew tree (Taxus brevifolia nutt), a small to medium-sized tree that occupies Pacific coastal forests from southwestern Alaska to California.
Development of Paclitaxel started in 1962. It was soon found to arrest the growth of cancer cells by attaching to their micro tubules, thus preventing cell division. By the late 1980s Taxol had become the drug of choice, despite its high cost, for the treatment of a wide range of cancers, especially ovarian and breast cancer.
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