Patient Meets Technologist Who Helped Develop Her Personalized Cancer Therapy
Tiffany Archibong, 35, and Jasmine Cherry, 27, met at an event for Moffitt Cancer Center’s Adolescence and Young Adult (AYA) Program, which serves patients ages 15 to 39. Their friendship began with small talk, sharing laughs and bonding over similar interests. It didn’t take long for the two of them to realize they share a rare connection, which would later turn into a friendship like no other.
Tiffany Archibong has served eight years of active duty in the military and eight years in the reserves.
Archibong was diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer in 2024. She was about to start chemotherapy before getting a second opinion at Moffitt. There, she was enrolled in a clinical trial.
In addition to chemotherapy, Archibong was treated with experimental dendritic cell vaccine therapy. Cell therapy experts collect a patient’s cells through a blood collection process called apheresis, manipulate them, isolate the dendritic cells and then use them to create a personalized vaccine for the patient. Dendritic cells are antigen-presenting cells that can recognize and attack cancer. The isolated dendritic cells are mixed with HER2-positive proteins, which are then in turn injected into the patient, stimulating specific immune responses.
“Every time I had a checkup throughout the clinical trial process, they could see the tumor was drastically shrinking, and I thought to myself, wow, this is really working,” Archibong said.
After her treatment, Archibong underwent a mastectomy procedure. She is now in remission and rang the bell to celebrate being cancer-free in September 2024.
“Doing this trial is the best thing I ever did. I prayed hard because I wanted to be here for my kids and family,” Archibong said.
As a cell therapy technologist at Moffitt, Cherry helps to develop therapies for various clinical trials, one of which is used to treat HER2-positive breast cancer.
At 24, Jasmine Cherry started working in Moffitt's Cell Therapies Core, where she continues to work today.
“After hours of hanging out at the AYA event, I was talking about my diagnosis and going through a clinical trial, and Jasmine started to talk about what she does at Moffitt, and that’s when I realized she and her team helped put together the thing that saved my life,” Archibong said.
For Cherry, this was the first time she had talked face-to-face with someone who had gone through this clinical trial.
Cherry underwent her bone marrow transplant in 2022. Her brother, who was 17 at the time, was her donor.
“On our end in the lab, we make it, and we usually see the data a few months later,” she said. “We normally don’t get to see the clinical side of someone’s treatment in my position, but in this case, I truly got to see the extent of how this therapy is working.”
Cherry is no stranger to knowing what it’s like to go through cancer treatment. She was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2022, a year into working at Moffitt. After receiving immunotherapy and a bone marrow transplant from her younger brother, Cherry has been in remission for two years.
“My team at Moffitt actually helped make my treatment in the lab, so now being able to meet someone where I contributed to making their personalized treatment, it’s a really cool full-circle moment,” Cherry said.
Archibong and Cherry’s friendship has continued to flourish. They get together for dinners to catch up on life, a life they both celebrate, with a new perspective after what they have both gone through.
“This entire process of being diagnosed with cancer and going through treatment has changed my outlook on life and I have so much appreciation for every little moment,” Archibong said.
