Experimental breast cancer vaccine creates unique bond between Moffitt patient, cell therapy technologist

Woman says vaccine helped her beat breast cancer

A mother of three and Airforce Reservist says a trial vaccine at Moffitt Cancer Center helped her become cancer-free within several months. FOX 13’s Jennifer Kveglis reports.

TAMPA, Fla. - An experimental breast cancer vaccine at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa created a unique bond between a patient and a cell therapy technologist.

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Jasmine Cherry, 27, and Tiffany Archibong, 35, share a unique bond. Both defeated cancer, both have ties to the military, and Cherry, a cell therapy technologist at Moffitt, unknowingly helped develop a personalized vaccine for Archibong that helped defeat her breast cancer.

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The backstory:

"I'm very familiar with Moffitt. I came here in high school, because both of my grandparents were sick," Cherry said.

Cherry said their diagnoses inspired her to want to help patients like them.

"I didn’t care what it was, either a scientist or med school. I just always wanted to work at Moffitt," she said.

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She joined the cell therapy team. Part of her work is helping develop experimental dendritic cell vaccine therapy for breast cancer, and personalized treatment for breast cancer patients.

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It starts with technologists taking a sample of the patient's blood.

"We actually take the cells of interest that we know are going to target and fight the cancer and also stimulate cells in the patient’s body, like T-cells," she explained.

Those white blood cells are manipulated to attack the cancer cells through the vaccine that's administered once a week for six weeks.

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Little did Cherry know, she was developing Archibong's individualized vaccine.

Local perspective:

Archibong, a mother of three and Airforce Reservist, was diagnosed with Stage 2, HER2+ breast cancer in March 2024.

"Fear…I was really scared," Archibong said. "I didn’t know what to do. I was really emotional. I went through all of the stages of grief. It was kind of hard for me to accept in the beginning."

Archibong learned about the trial vaccine at Moffitt and got started before beginning chemo.

"It started to shrink, it was working," she said. "The nurses, everybody I was dealing with inside the room. They were surprised. They were like, ‘Wow this is really working.’" Through the vaccine, chemo, radiation, and a mastectomy, by September that year, she was cancer-free.

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"I danced up to the bell, and I just rang it while dancing to the song," she said. "It was such a beautiful moment. I felt so good. I felt so accomplished."

How They Met:

Two months later, Cherry and Archibong attended a Moffitt event hosted at Busch Gardens, but they didn't realize it at the time.

"I literally held her cells in my hand like," Cherry said.

"We were having fun, and we got on some rides," Archibong said. "Towards the very end right when we were about to leave, we were on the trolley going home."

That's when they realized who the other person was.

"Once we connected the dots, it was just like an insane connection," Cherry said.

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What's next:

Since entering remission, Archibong has been inspired to give back. Last October, she hosted a fashion show.

"I was turning 35 and I had 34 models, and I was the 35th model that came out," she said. "We were able to fundraiser in that event and really put out breast cancer awareness."

She and her husband hope to host an even bigger event this October.

The Source: The information in this story was collected by FOX 13's Jennifer Kveglis.

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