A Clinical Trial? Let Me Think About That

MONTH 2026

(4-minute read)

Keywords: Clinical Trial, BAMF Health, PSMA PET scan, Pluvicto, Radiopharmaceuticals,

How I became the first human dosed in a Phase 1 prostate cancer therapy clinical trial.

We had good reason to be concerned.

Just months after a regimen of chemotherapy, my PSA started trending up. PSA (prostate-specific antigen) is a blood test used to help screen prostate cancer. My oncologist referred me to BAMF Health for a PSMA PET scan, an imaging test that detects prostate cancer in the body, revealed that my disease had advanced.

BAMF is an acronym for Bold Advanced Medical Future. As the name suggests, BAMF Health is an exciting, state-of-the-art venture in cancer healthcare, “the world’s first vertically integrated platform for molecular imaging and radiopharmaceutical therapy.” And it’s right here where I live in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The founder and award-winning CEO of BAMF Health is Dr. Anthony Chang. He has these cutting-edge, supersonic scanners, including the uEXPLORER PET/CT, which is something like forty times more sensitive than conventional PET scanners. I had to wonder if that thing could read my mind.

With Anthony Chang doing the “BAMF point” in front of the StarGuide – GE HealthCare digital SPECT/CT

Unfortunately, the results of the PSMA PET scan revealed that my prostate cancer had advanced a good bit. My oncologist referred me back to BAMF Health for a treatment called Pluvicto. Pluvicto is not a cure; it is used to manage and control advanced metastatic prostate cancer by slowing, or even stopping tumor growth. And – bonus – the side effects are minimal compared to chemo or immunotherapy, which I can describe in one word: brutal.

A Pioneering Patient?

I met with Dr. Brandon Mancini. He is a radiation oncologist and the Medical Director at BAMF Health. Let me tell you a little something else about him. Smart as a whip. Sharp dresser. And a big University of Michigan football fan. That’s where he did his undergraduate studies. He’s been to the Big House a few times. And no one can explain how Pluvicto works better. 

Brandon and I (we’re on a first-name basis) were sitting across a table facing each other. He had these papers in front of him. Before getting to my Pluvicto treatment, he told me that I qualified for a clinical trial to test the efficacy of a new radiopharmaceutical therapy. Radiopharmaceuticals are radioactive drugs used for both diagnosing and treating diseases, particularly cancer.[1] Should I consent to take part in the study, I would be the “First-in-Human” (FIH) subject, the pioneer patient.

Now, I kind of like the idea of being the first, a pioneer. But the fact that I’d been on the wrong side statistically of some of my cancer treatments gave me pause. I’m going to have the initial human exposure to some new radiopharmaceutical therapy? I could picture myself out there in the middle of the night, stark naked, howling at the moon.

Then again.

When I was first diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2011, I went on a urology website that had a life expectancy calculator. That “crystal ball” sort of thing concerned me more back then. Less now. Or at least I’ve learned to resist the occasional temptation, knowing it’s unfair to ask my doctors to try to predict the future. I suppose it has something to do with having had a lot of candid conversations, but I think it’s more about coming to terms with reality. Though a time might come when I change my mind on that.

Anyway, I put all my metrics in the calculator – age, Gleason score (which determines how aggressive your cancer is), biopsy results – and clicked Enter.

I was on the three-to-five year plan. And sure enough, at the five-year mark I got a terrible report: extensive osseous metastatic disease. My prostate cancer had spread to my bones. From my pelvis to my neck. In my rib cage. When I saw the scan, it took my breath away. 

That’s the beginning of the end. I sobbed in bed that night thinking about what was to come.

Around that time, a fairly new radioactive therapy came out specifically for prostate cancer that had metastasized in the bones. My urologist put me on it. 

At the end of that treatment, my PSA was undetectable. And then a follow-up scan showed no sign of cancer anywhere in my body. 

Now, eventually it came back. My prostate cancer is like a monster in a horror film that just refuses to die. But somebody somewhere consented to be in a clinical trial for that radioactive therapy. And as a result, I have lived longer. 

Now I was in a position to do something the same for someone else.

Redeeming the Time 

I am a person of faith. Living with cancer became part of my calling, my purpose. And I thought long and hard about how to “redeem the time,” to live a meaningful life with a chronic, life-threatening disease.

Participating in a clinical trial? Talk about loving your neighbor. About finding some sort of purpose in all this. This “first-in-human imaging study” might well turn out to be a promising way forward in the treatment of patients with prostate cancer. If so, it could make a real difference in countless people’s lives.

If you haven’t already seen the short BAMF Health video that was on Facebook — I'm talking about the clinical trial — here’s a link.

WAIT A MINUTE. Before leaving, YOU HAVE GOT TO WATCH this short YouTube video about the GE StarGuide, the digital SPECT/CT scanner used during my clinical trial and Pluvicto treatments. 

After my clinical trial, I entertained my BAMF friends with a little concert

Photo Credits (in order of appearance)

• “Potawatomi Ventures and Waséyabek Development Company Announce Strategic Investments in BAMF Health,” Waséyabek, August 19, 2024, https://waseyabek.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/BAMF-SI-Image.jpg.

• Dinkun Chen, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FULL_MOON_IN_SEPTEMBER_9_2022.jpg

• W.carter, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sunset_with_tree.jpg

Footnotes

[1] Radiopharmaceuticals work by delivering radiation to specific areas of the body, either to create images for diagnostic imaging like PET scans or to destroy targeted cells for therapeutic purposes. The drugs consist of a radioactive molecule attached to a targeting molecule, which guides the radiation to its intended location (Google AI Overview).

William D. Romanowski is an award-winning commentator on the intersection of religion and popular culture and author of a number of books, including Reforming Hollywood: How Protestants Fought for Freedom at the Movies and Eyes Wide Open: Looking for God in Popular Culture. With his continuing commentary, he is trading footnotes for fiction, writing novels under the pen name (or nom de plume, as the French put it), Patmos Rhodes.