Daily Mail London England UK (December 11, 2k12)
The cancer girl cured by the HIV virus: Seven-year-old makes extraordinary recovery after U.S. doctors re-wire her immune system to destroy leukaemia cells
- Emily had been fighting leukaemia for two years but relapsed this spring
- Her parents put her forward for a clinical trial as it was 'the only option left'
- 'We had 48 hours to make a decision or Emily could have started having organ failure', father said
- Therapy, known as CTL019, used disabled form of HIV to reprogramme her immune system to kill cancer cells
by CLAIRE BATES
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In April this year, Emily Whitehead's family had almost given up hope.
The brave six-year-old had been fighting leukaemia for two years, only to relapse for a second time during intensive chemotherapy treatment in February.
Doctors had exhausted all the traditional treatments as Emily could not remain in remission for long enough to attempt a bone marrow transplant. So her desperate parents, Kari and Tom, started looking at more radical options.
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Fighting fit: Emily (seen left during treatment in April) has now been in remission from cancer for seven months
Big hugs: Emily was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in May 2010
'We made the decision that we needed to go somewhere else,' said Mrs Whitehead.
'We needed to try something new, different and cutting-edge.'
So they turned to the Cancer Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, which is involved in testing a pioneering new therapy.
