EXCLUSIVE: A revolutionary cancer therapy is coming to Central California

CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) -- For the first time, a potential cancer cure is being offered here in Central California.

Action News had exclusive access as the first patient received the groundbreaking treatment at Clovis Community Medical Center.

More than a dozen people crowded into a small room at Clovis Community Medical Center, with others spilling out into the hallway.

Some recorded on their phones, others arched their necks in hopes of witnessing history in the making.

All eyes on Christine Quintero and her care team, as she received what could be a cure to her cancer.

By the time we met Christine last month, she'd been battling the disease for well over a year and a half. Her symptoms started with exhaustion and sporadic fevers.

"What happened was, I would have fever at night, I would get up in the morning it would be gone," said Christine Quintero, cancer patient. "So I would be like, Okay, I'm gonna work. So I would work throughout the day. And then, you know, not knowing I was gonna get fever again, and at night, same thing, fever came back. And that happened, like three weeks in a row."

Severe weight loss, antibiotics, and multiple hospital stays over two months gave way to a diagnosis.

"They came back and they told me I had cancer," said Quintero. "I didn't know what kind of cancer it was, and at that point in my life, I didn't really care, because I was so sick."

Her team at the Community Cancer Institute at Clovis Community attacked her Large B-cell lymphoma for months with chemo and radiation.

What was once an orange-sized tumor shrank to the size of a lime.

Then came talks of Chimeric Antigen Receptor or CAR T-cell therapy.

"So this new immunotherapy offers an opportunity for these patients to have a good response and potentially cure," said Dr. Haifaa Abdulhaq, UCSF Director of Hematology. "This immunotherapy is offered currently in only academic centers, and we've never had it in the Central Valley."

The therapy normally takes 30 days of inpatient and outpatient care. It wasn't offered at the institute or any local hospital.

"I was thinking that was going to be an expense, you know, if my husband went, he would have to be out of work, and then my kids going up there to see me, you know, I just thought all around it," said Quintero. "I just didn't want to go."

But her care team had no intention of sending her away; they were bringing the treatment to Christine.

First, they took white blood cells, including T-cells, from Christine. Those cells were sent off to a lab to have a new gene introduced to them so they could better detect and kill cancerous cells.

Then the cells were returned and infused back into Christine.

She's just the beginning.

"We will be working on having national accreditation so this center can serve all the population in the Central Valley," said Dr. Abdulhaq.

For Central California, it's revolutionary; for Christine, it's her life.

"I know that, you know, this is going to be the end of my journey, where I know that I'm going to be completely healed," said Christine.

The cancer institute needs to treat five patients before it can apply for accreditation. The goal is to do that within a year.

As for Christine, we're told she's doing well.