It's impossible to directly link Clough's cancer to weapons testing, but the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that people exposed to radiation fallout, "especially during childhood, may have an increased risk of thyroid disease, including thyroid cancer many years later."

Oncologists Alain Mita at Cedars-Sinai and Maria Cabanillas at MD Anderson, who had collaborated previously on patients with anaplastic thyroid cancer, determined that Clough's form of cancer warranted treatment with Keytruda, a drug that stimulates the immune system.

But after a few months of treatment that had showed some promise, the cancer was growing again. In late December, Clough's doctors switched to a drug called Retevmo, a targeted therapy that blocks the driver of tumor growth.

A hopeful Dorio recalled that in a 2017 blog post, he had written that "genetic engineering research is on the verge of finding the DNA 'stop button' " for cancer cell growth. He added, "Hopefully one day our great-grandkids will ask … 'What was cancer?'"

One month into Retevmo medication, Clough had to stop because of adverse side effects to her liver. But a new scan revealed what seemed to her like a miracle.

The cancer was gone.

Two months later, she had another test.

No cancer.

"Her cancer is, at this moment, undetectable and in remission. For anaplastic cancer that's very unusual," Dr. Mita told me.

That doesn't mean the cancer won't return, he said. But for the time being, there's cause for optimism.

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