From Stage Four Colon Cancer to Cancer Free: How Immunotherapy Saved Chris Biggar's Life
January 02, 2026
This story was written by Patient Action for Cancer Research in partnership with Chris Biggar.
When Chris Biggar moved to North Carolina in 2022, he was looking for a fresh start. At 34, the Ohio native had reconnected with a high school flame despite a disastrous first date 18 years earlier, and they settled into Durham together as Biggar began on a new career.
Aside from a short hospital stay for tonsilitis, Biggar had always been healthy–so when he began to notice fatigue and some minor stomach aches, he was unconcerned.
But three months after moving, Biggar found himself collapsing in his apartment with stabbing abdomen pain. He eventually landed in the ER, where doctors discovered he had dangerously low blood levels and a tennis ball-sized mass on his liver. That Labor Day weekend, further testing confirmed he had stage 4 colon cancer.
“I finally had everything I wanted in my life, and suddenly I find out that cancer’s trying to take that away from me,” Biggar said.
Once he was referred to Duke Cancer Institute, Biggar learned his cancer had a mutation—known as microsatellite instability, or MSI—that made it unlikely to respond to chemotherapy. Instead, doctors recommended he begin immunotherapy exclusively.
“I kept googling ‘stage 4 colon cancer immunotherapy survivor’ and I couldn’t find anything… I didn’t realize at the time there was no info on it because we were writing it,” he said.
For the next nine months, Biggar continued treatment at Duke. While he initially thought he could continue work at his new job, he eventually had to take a different role from home as he navigated the reality of his illness. But the results from his immunotherapy, recommended for his specific type of colorectal cancer, felt “like magic.”
“To me, research funding is paramount,” Biggar said. “Without that research being funded to that point where they started using it on me, I’m not here.”
By the next summer, Biggar felt so improved that he believed the cancer was gone. He was right–a circulating tumor DNA test showed no trace of cancer. That July, Biggar had his final liver surgery, and today, he remains cancer-free.
Now back in Cleveland, Biggar has remained involved in cancer advocacy–he helped organize the Duke Crush Colorectal Cancer 5K and the Cleveland Walk to End Colon Cancer–but his experience has particularly piqued his interest in cancer research funding. Biggar works with the Indiana University Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, and he sits on a committee at Duke that allocates cancer funding at their cancer institute.
“It’s a scary, daunting thought that research like that–all it’s waiting for is money. That’s why it’s such a burning fire inside of me,” he said. “Everyone deserves the outcome I got.”
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