Right To Try gives terminally ill Oregon teacher hope

TIGARD, Ore. (KOIN) — For 30 years, Steve Lewis taught science mostly to 6th-graders, most recently at Beaverton Middle School. He was a scuba diver, a runner, a skier, a self-described active and athletic person his entire life.

“The ironic thing is that I feel great. I’m exercising, I’m very active,” the 58-year-old told KOIN 6 News. “I just happen to have this weird growth inside of me that is trying to kill me. So, it’s irritating.”

In April 2015 he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and he said his prognosis now is that he has “probably 6 months” left to live.

Oregon’s Right To Try law

But next Wednesday Lewis will get his first treatment under Oregon’s new Right To Try law. The law, signed by Gov. Kate Brown, took effect January 1 and allows terminally ill patients the right to try drugs that may help extend their life but haven’t received FDA approval.

“You get to a point when you have an illness like this (where) there’s just nothing left to do. You’re now in paliative care. We try to control the pain and at that point you know you’re just going downhill,” he said.

But the Right To Try law provides the opportunity “to try something that you would have never gotten the opportunity to try.”

He said he and his wife had never heard of the new law until they learned about it through some Facebook friends. They figured if they hadn’t heard about it, many others may not have heard of it, either. So he decided to take his story public to get the word out to others.

“If you’ve got a terminal illness you may have reached the end of what you think is your bag of tricks that your oncologist can pull out and use,” he told KOIN 6 News. “But there may be something else you can do. There may be access to some drugs that you’re not aware of, that the FDA hasn’t approved for use in this case and it might be very effective.”

Neither he nor his family are deluding themselves about the experimental treatment.

“Any hope is good hope at this point,” he said. “It might mean saving my life. So it means quite a bit, it means a lot to my family.”

Steve Lewis said 6th-graders are “a wonderful age group” who taught him hope and resilience.

“You can’t just take things too seriously. Life is just not seriouis. Take out of it what you can and enjoy it,” he said.

Teaching that ages group for so long made him have a positive outlook about everything because, he said, “so many days go up and so many days go down.”

“Any hope is good hope at this point” – Steve Lewis

That’s helped him with his current battle. “I’m always looking for the best,” he said, “so I very much plan for the worst, too.”

His family is very excited about the potential of his experimental treatment. “They’re kind of doing yippy-skippy dances.”

He said he’s learned to take things one step at a time. “I don’t know what’s going to happen next,” Lewis said. “I’m kind of enjoying everything I’m doing right now, and my family. Really, I’m living.”

Retired from the classroom, he’s still teaching others — only this time about the Right To Try law.

“We just want other people to know this may be something that they can take advantage of and hopefully save their lives, too.”