Man who beat rare cancer celebrates by canoeing 2,000 miles with his dog

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A 67-year-old cancer survivor from Orange County, Florida, completed a more than2,000-mile journeydown the Missouri River alongside his dog, Amos, after undergoing a groundbreaking immunotherapy treatment.

Frank Carter spent 64 days navigating the longest U.S.river in a cedar-strip canoe he built by hand, according to reports from the Moffitt Cancer Center and.

The expedition began in Montana and concluded near St.

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Before his diagnosis, Carter was a long-distance adventurer.According to the Moffitt Cancer Center, he spent five months hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2019 and completed an eight-week cross-country bicycle ride from San Diego to New Smyrna Beach, Florida, in 2020.

However, his physical limits were tested in a new way in 2021 following a routine 5K race.

Bluffs of Burlington Limestone rise along the Missouri River near Columbia, Missouri.

Frank Carter, a 67-year-old cancer survivor from Orange County, Florida, paddled 2,341 miles down the Missouri River over 64 days with his golden retriever, Amos.(UCG/Universal Images Group via G)

“I was wiped out.I just wasn’t recovering,�“I went to my doctor, had blood tests.Long story short, in two weeks I was getting chemo.”

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Doctors diagnosed Carter withmantle cell lymphoma, a rare form of blood cancer that originates in white blood cells known as lymphocytes.He underwent 15 rounds of chemotherapy in Orlando, according to Moffitt Cancer Center.

Man and dog paddle a canoe on a river during sunset.

Carter hand-built the cedar-strip canoe (not pictured) for the journey, and is now sharing his story to encourage other patients to remain active and hopeful.(iStock)

Although the treatment significantly reduced the cancer, follow-up exams showed lingering traces of the disease.

Carter then sought care at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa to undergo chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, which involves extracting the patient’s ownimmune cells, genetically altering them in a laboratory to identify cancer cells, and adding them back into the body.

CAR-T cell attacking cancer cell in scientific illustration.

Doctors treated Carter with CAR T-cell therapy, a groundbreaking immunotherapy that genetically alters a patient’s own T-cells to attack cancer, leaving him cancer-free for four years.(iStock)

“We take those T-cells and genetically engineer them by putting something called a CAR into them,” Dr.“Now these T-cells can see the tumor and get rid of it, where before the tumor was able to hide from it.”

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Carter has remained cancer-free for four years following the single infusion.Throughout his recovery, he has found constant support in his dog, Amos, whom he brought home right beforebeginning chemotherapy.

“After my cancer diagnosis, I told myself I was going to beat this, and I really wanted a dog during the process,” Carter told Moffitt’s Endeavor publication.“I got Amos right before my first treatment.”

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