Darlene Gant is dying.
An aggressive cancer is attacking her body, but she's hoping an experimental drug called Pertuzumab can save her life.
"I believe it could be lifesaving," said Darlene Gant. "At the least, life extending, which is better than where I'm at."
Gant was diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer in 2006. The cancer went into remission, but re-emerged in 2010.
Determined to stay alive, Gant sent letters to the FDA and the pharmaceutical company Genentech pleading for release of the trial drug Pertuzumab under compassionate use.
The company told her the drug wouldn't be available until June. Gant didn't expect to live that long. So her husband recorded an online plea.
Three weeks after Gant's emotional video hit YouTube, the 20 minute clip went viral. And Gant got her wish.
In an unusual move, the pharmaceutical company agreed to give her the medication.
"It's generally not done with a patient initiative, it's generally through a physician," said Dr. Michael Hayes, PharmD at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. "This is pretty unusual in this fact that it's gone pretty much national in this regard."
Gant's online fight brought her and her family to Moffitt Cancer Center.
Friday, she got her first dose of the trial drug.
The hope is the drug will target the aggressive cancer cells and her body will fight the disease.
After close to 19,000 hits on the web, Darlene also hopes her story is an inspiration for others dying of cancer.
"God knows if it helps one person stand up and say I'll do the same thing or I'll fight, I'm happy," Gant said.
But first she's counting on the drug to work so she can be alive to watch her son grow up.