Cancer

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Breakthrough Treatment ‘Cures’ 2-Year-Old Boy of Stage 4 Cancer

When 2-year-old Gideon Purchase began to lose his appetite, his parents attributed it to teething. He started fussing at night as well, but it wasn’t until yellow bruises appeared in his eyes that his parents started to worry.

Katie and Gary, Gideon’s parents, took him to the doctor’s office the next day. What the doctors told them shattered their world.

Gideon had stage 4 high-risk neuroblastoma. “It’s literally as bad as it gets,” Katie Purchase told Today.

Gideon was taken to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for more tests. The team at St. Jude confirmed the severity of the diagnosis.

“His entire face and skull was full of cancer, and all of his bones were full of cancer,” Dr. Sara Federico of St. Jude said. “He had a large tumor that was present in the middle of his body.”

Katie and Gary were stunned by the news, but the doctors at St. Jude had hope. They entered Gideon into a new clinical trial that showed promise.

The treatment introduced an antibody with chemotherapy throughout the process. After six weeks, doctors were shocked to find a drastic change in Gideon’s health.

“The early results are surpassing all of our wildest expectations,” Federico said. “He went from 84 percent of his marrow having tumor to zero percent.”

By six weeks, the majority of Gideon’s tumors were gone. His face, arms, and legs were clear of tumors, and the lingering tumors were shrinking by the day.

Gideon still had months of treatment ahead of him, but his chances looked promising. “Being how aggressive this disease is, they can’t leave one cell alive,” Gary told Today.

He still had to endure radiation and a bone marrow transplant, so this procedure is not a quick-fix chemo-free cure. But it gives people hope.

Fifteen months after Gideon started treatment, doctors declared him cancer-free. Gary and Katie were ecstatic to hear the news.

“You yearn for the day when you’re not toting around an entire IV tree behind your kid,” Gary said. “And then it happens, and you just kind of sit there like, ‘Wow. We made it.”

https://www.liftable.com/james-russo/breakthrough-treatment-cures-2-year-old-boy-stage-4-cancer/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=minutemennews&utm_campaign=dailypm&utm_content=libertyalliance