"MaryAnn Anselmo feared for the worst when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor called a glioblastoma in late . You start doing research on that type of tumor and youre saying Oh my God youre history. Its like a death sentence says Anselmo now . Only for her it wasnt. Anselmos successful treatment shows how precision medicine  tailoring therapy to each patients genetic needs  is beginning to transform cancer care. At first the outlook seemed grim. Although Anselmos surgeon was able to surgically remove most of her tumor she couldnt tolerate traditional chemotherapy that was the planned second step and had to discontinue it. The chemo failure was the latest in a string of personal setbacks. The year before she was diagnosed with brain cancer shed lost her son to suicide. Weeks after that she was almost killed in a car crash outside a local mall. Her cancer was discovered after she had a dizzy spell and her husband Joseph insisted she return to the hospital to have it checked out. After all that Anselmo and her husband werent ready to give up on her cancer fight. Hed read about advances in targeted therapies  drugs that go after cancer cells at the molecular level. The family sent samples of her tumor samples for genetic testing to several leading cancer hospitals. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where she was being treated also did its own sequencing. They all found the same thing. Anselmos tumor had a BRAF mutation http common in skin cancer but very unusual for a brain tumor. Her oncologist David Hyman http at Memorial Sloan Kettering enrolled Anselmo into a new kind of drug trial. Called a basket trial http_r the study is designed to include people whose tumors have the same kind of genetic fingerprint regardless of where in the body the tumors are found. Knowing more about the genetic mutations of a tumor enables doctors to find a potentially effective drug much more quickly and accurately. Its like youre in a parking lot Hyman says. And you have a key to one of the cars in the parking lot. And so one option is just to go to each car and try to open the lock. The other is to know that its the third car on the right. What were doing now is were saying OK this key fits that lock. And were only going straight to that car. Today Anselmo is doing well. Shes been in the clinical trial for a year now and continues to take Zelboraf or vemurafenib http generically daily. The pills have kept her cancer from growing. There are side effects of course. Shes lost some peripheral vision though shes been able to compensate. And Zelboraf is expensive though its free to Anselmo because shes taking it as part of a study. Now she can focus again on the things she loves like singing. Anselmo a jazz singer who performed under the stage name Mariel Larsen before her illness is planning a comeback. Shes back in training with her longtime vocal coach. As this kind of genetic sequencing of tumors has become faster and cheaper more patients have access to this technology. More doctors are taking advantage of the information to treat patients with a targeted approach. We took a disease where nothing really works for any length of time and weve given her a year of life and hopefully much more where shes been much better Hyman her oncologist says. Still he cautions that the targeted treatments cant be considered cures. At some point the drug that is keeping Anselmos cancer at bay could stop working. Every patient is different in how long it works he says. We all have patients that have been on these drugs for years. But I dont know I mean I think if I was being honest eventually our expectation would be that it would stop working. Theres no way to predict when. But in the meantime patients like Anselmo are grateful to have time they wouldnt have had otherwise. After all the misfortunes shes been through it would be easy to think Anselmo has been incredibly unlucky. But she doesnt see it that way. No she says after rehearsing for her comeback show Im the luckiest. Our series is produced with member station WNYC and with Ken Burns Presents Cancer The Emperor of All Maladies http which will air on PBS starting March . Check your local listings for broadcast times."