Brian McMahon is the founder of SparkCures and a four-time cancer caregiver. The search for clinical trials is personal for him, because his mother was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. She received a poor prognosis due to genetic factors and a late diagnosis. Within three weeks, she was enrolled in a clinical trial. Participating in the trial gave his family two additional years with his mother that his doctors never thought would be possible. Since then, he’s cared for family members and friends who were diagnosed with cancer. As a caregiver, he’s had clinical trial conversations with doctors for the University of Arkansas to Dana-Farber and a half-dozen hospitals in between. He’s used dozens of advocacy groups and websites to search for clinical trials—and he knows how difficult it is to find them, to understand them and to have the conversations. He also knows there is a better way to help patients and caregiver understand and discover eligible clinical trials.
