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Woman given months to live beats brain cancer with new cell treatment: 'I feel good'

Pamela Goldberger, a New Jersey grandmother, shares how she overcame her devastating brain cancer diagnosis through a clinical trial for a cell therapy treatment.

A New Jersey woman has been given a second chance at life, thanks to a new cancer therapy.

Pamela Goldberger, 65, found out in 2023 that she had glioblastoma — a devastating diagnosis with an average survival of just 14 to 16 months, even with surgery.

In an on-camera interview with Fox News Digital, Goldberger shared that her first symptoms were subtle, other than a severe bout of nausea — until one night at dinner, she used her fork as her knife and her knife as her fork. (See the video at the top of the article.)

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Goldberger went to the ER for neurological testing, including MRIs and a CAT scan, which revealed a brain tumor.

"It's pretty devastating news to hear," she said. "I don't know what I thought was happening, but that wasn't it … Our world just stopped."

Pam Goldberger is pictured with her husband Bruce Goldberger (far right) and their two grandchildren. The survivor said her husband was her "biggest cheerleader" throughout her cancer journey. (Goldberger family)

"We have two little grandchildren, and [I thought] I was never going to have the opportunity to see them grow up. I think that's as devastating as it gets."

Goldberger was admitted to the hospital and scheduled for brain surgery a few days later.

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Surgery is standard treatment for this highly invasive brain cancer, but the head of neurosurgery at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, New Jersey, offered Goldberger a different option.

He invited Goldberger to consider joining a clinical trial for an individualized dendritic cell therapy that could help treat glioblastoma, and she agreed to participate.

Although the healing process was "very gradual," Goldberger said she started to feel like herself again once the oral chemotherapy ended. (Goldberger family)

After the surgery, Goldberger began six weeks of chemotherapy and radiation, and then started six weeks of the investigational cell therapy a few weeks later. That process was followed by another year of chemo maintenance.

Although the healing process was "very gradual," Goldberger said she started to feel like herself again once the oral chemotherapy ended.

Now, 2-½ years after her diagnosis, she is alive, healthy and able to play tennis several times a week.

Details of the clinical trial

Survival rates and treatments for glioblastoma have not changed in 20 years, according to Dr. Joseph Georges, a neurosurgeon at Banner University Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, who led the clinical trial. 

"It's a highly mutated tumor and there are different cell populations for each patient," he told Fox News Digital. "And the tumor is also very good at silencing the body's immune system from attacking it."

"It's pretty devastating news to hear … Our world just stopped."