Frank Carter, a 67-year-old cancer survivor from Orange County, Florida, has completed an extraordinary 2,000-mile journey down the Missouri River alongside his loyal companion, Amos. The pair spent 64 days navigating the longest U.S. river in a cedar-strip canoe built by Carter himself.
The expedition began in Montana and concluded near St. Louis, Missouri, requiring the pair to camp along the riverbank while enduring severe storms, high winds, and hail. Before his diagnosis, Carter was an avid long-distance adventurer, having spent five months hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2019 and completing an eight-week cross-country bicycle ride from San Diego to New Smyrna Beach, Florida, in 2020.
Carter's physical limits were tested in a new way in 2021 following a routine 5K race. He reported feeling "wiped out" and was subsequently diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma, a rare form of blood cancer. After undergoing 15 rounds of chemotherapy, Carter's cancer was significantly reduced, but lingering traces of the disease remained.
Seeking a more effective treatment, Carter turned to the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, where he underwent chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. This innovative treatment involves extracting the patient's own immune cells, genetically altering them in a laboratory to identify cancer cells, and adding them back into the body.
Carter has remained cancer-free for four years following the single infusion, crediting his loyal companion Amos for providing constant support throughout his recovery. "I got Amos right before my first treatment," Carter said, highlighting the importance of Amos in his journey.
