Nick Auden

Locky’s dad wasn’t one of the lucky ones.

Nick Auden was just 41 when he died last year of melanoma. When he was diagnosed with the disease in 2011, the avid athlete and father of three was hopeful that a promising clinical trial for what he called a “wonder drug” might extend his life, but just a few hours into the clinical trial, he was disqualified because of a minor complication, which meant he couldn’t access the drug he so desperately needed.

So his wife, Amy, pregnant with their third child at the time, started “Save Locky’s Dad,” an online petition named for the Audens’ oldest son asking major drug companies Merck and Bristol-Meyers Squibb to give Nick access to the anti-PD-1 drug, a cutting edge medication that reprograms the immune system to attack cancer. In trials of low-dose anti-PD-1 drugs for patients with melanoma, 38% of patients experience tumor shrinkage. In high doses, that number can rise to 52%.

In the end, despite gathering 520,000 Change.org signatures, the Audens were unable to gain access for Nick. Neither of the anti-PD-1 drugs have made it to the market yet, and it may well be years before they do. On the eve of the first Right To Try bill signed in the country, Colorado Daybreak takes a look at the life of a father who should have had the Right To Try before it was too late.

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