Like most women with ovarian cancer, 44-year-old Christine Sable of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, had no strong indications that anything was wrong. So she waited several months before talking to her doctor about the mild cramps, abdominal bloating and feeling of fullness she had been experiencing. When her doctor told her that tests had revealed large, complex masses, the size of grapefruits, on her ovaries, “from that second,” she said, “I knew I had ovarian cancer.”

By the time it was discovered, the disease had spread to other areas of the abdomen. Christine knew that was very serious. “Most women with ovarian cancer live only one to three years; the vast majority do not make it much longer than that,” she explains. “I knew my chances of recurrence were very high – 75 to 80 percent – and that the disease would recur within a year or two. Once it recurs, it is difficult to cure.”

After aggressive surgery and chemotherapy, the only other option her doctor could offer was more chemotherapy. But the first round had been very hard, Christine recalls. “I wanted to find something that would work with my own immune system and not be so harsh on my body.” She searched for clinical trials that might offer a promising new treatment, but nothing seemed right.

Then her husband, Steven Geisenberger, saw a TV report about a clinical trial of an ovarian cancer vaccine developed by Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD, Surgeon in Gynecologic Oncology and Co-Leader of Roswell Park’s Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy Program. Christine says the day she was accepted into the trial was “one of the most exciting days of my life.”

She began treatment at Roswell Park in February 2004. Her immune system showed such a strong response to the first five doses of vaccine that she received another five, then another five. Each round brought a better response – with no side effects. Now 49 and still cancer-free, she returns to Roswell Park just once a year for continued monitoring.

The mother of two teenagers, 15-year-old Nicole and 13-year-old Justin, Christine is passionate about educating other women about the symptoms of ovarian cancer. She stresses the importance of seeking help immediately if those symptoms occur, underscoring the message that ovarian cancer “can happen to anybody.” She’s a case in point: Christine is a non-smoker, eats a healthy diet and has no family history of any kind of cancer.

Christine says participating in the vaccine trial “has been a great experience; I was very well cared for. Dr. Odunsi is a gentle, kind man, brilliant and dedicated and very compassionate. I’m always full of questions, and he was so patient. He answered every question.”

Christine’s message of hope for the holidays: “To have had this many years cancer-free is really amazing. Roswell Park is such an incredible place, and it has given so many people hope, and given them their lives back.”