Tennessee woman travels to UC for lifesaving care

A woman from East Tennessee is finding treatment for her Stage 4 colon cancer at the University of Cincinnati Cancer Center, and she did it with the help of a close member of her family.

Trisha Wilhoit was diagnosed with colon cancer in October 2023 that quickly spread to her liver. She couldn't find the treatment she needed at home in Tennessee, so she called the Cancer Center.

"They chose to save my life, and they had the 'I will, I can, we will do this' attitude," Wilhoit told WLWT. She drove five hours every two weeks for months to see Cancer Center experts who told her she was going to need a liver transplant to survive.

Wilhoit's sister, Camille Berkley, stepped up as a donor.

"She's my sister," Berkley said. "And I've got to keep her. I can't I can't do this life without her."

Wilhoit's care team first treated the liver tumors through an artery infusion pump. It's a wireless device about the size of a hockey puck that delivers chemotherapy directly to the liver.

"We were able to treat these liver tumors, so that we could get to the point where the tumors were essentially dead and almost completely gone," Greg Wilson, MD, Cancer Center member, associate professor in UC's College of Medicine and a UC Health physician, told WLWT.

The Cancer Center is one of the only places in the country to offer this joint treatment.

"We took Camille's liver next door and then put it in Tricia," Cutler Quillan, MD, Cancer Center member, associate professor in UC's College of Medicine and UC Health surgical director of liver transplant said. "She stayed in the hospital about a week after transplant. And here we are six weeks later. She had a great response to therapy; very minimal cancer left in the liver."

Read or watch the WLWT story.

Featured photo at top of hands holding a model liver. Photo/Sewcream/iStock.