Partners in Care
Patient, Now Physician, Joins his Doctor in Conquering his Rare Disease
"UAMS and the Myeloma Center are extremely focused on the patient experience,” said David Fajgenbaum, M.D., who was a medical student when he met his physician Frits van Rhee, M.D., Ph.D., but today collaborates with him on several projects related to Castleman disease.
D
avid Fajgenbaum, M.D., was a 25-year-old medical student and a patient with Castleman disease when he met Frits van Rhee, M.D., Ph.D. a decade ago. Now he is a fellow physician collaborating with the UAMS Myeloma Center clinical director on several projects related to the disease. “David is an incredible advocate for those with Castleman disease,” van Rhee said. “He has made great strides regarding this rare lymph node disorder, from raising awareness of it to advancing research and treatment.” 12
Fajgenbaum was a student at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia when he became ill in 2010, and was hospitalized for six months. He was eventually diagnosed with idiopathic multicentric (iMCD), a subtype of Castleman disease. The disorder affects 5,000 patients in the U.S. each year. “I did some research and found that Dr. van Rhee was the world’s leading expert for the study and treatment of Castleman, specifically iMCD, so I went to see him,” Fajgenbaum, 34, said. “But while there, I relapsed and spent two months in the hospital,” said Fajgenbaum. “I was on dialysis, needed transfusions, and gained 30 to 40 pounds of fluid all over my body.” “Dr. van Rhee did a multi-agent chemotherapy, treating me with an experimental drug, siltuximab, of which he was the principal investigator, and he saved my life. He got me through a really tough time.” “It was incredible,” Fajgenbaum said of his care in Little Rock, Arkansas. “UAMS and the Myeloma Center are extremely focused on the patient experience,” he said. “Sometimes at major academic centers they are so focused on treatment and research, the staff can lose sight of the patient, but that never happened once at UAMS.” myeloma.uams
edu
