Other lives changed by CAR T-cell therapy

Since the start of clinical trials in 2016, the University of Chicago Medicine has treated 100 cancer patients with CAR T-cell therapy, a revolutionary treatment that makes it possible for a patient’s own white blood cells to kill their cancer. Here are two other UChicago Medicine patients whose CAR-T treatment provided hope, sent them into remission and gave them their lives back. Jacelyn Walsh, 41 Chicago

The mother of two young girls, Jacelyn Walsh battled acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) for six years, including three relapses and one bone marrow transplant, before coming to UChicago Medicine for a clinical trial of CAR T-cell therapy.

She’s been in remission since April.

“This is not easy therapy, but Jacelyn did so well,” said her UChicago Medicine oncologist, Wendy Stock, MD.

Doctors expect this type of CAR T-cell therapy, still in clinical trials for ALL, to soon be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and even as an early option for ALL treatment, rather than as a last resort. New ALL drugs also are being developed.

“It’s truly an exciting time right now,” Stock said. “I’m thrilled at how many opportunities there are for patients, just in the last five years.”

Now cancer-free, Walsh mentors other parents with cancer through Imerman Angels, a local support group. She and her husband are also active in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

“Having children gives you something to fight for,” Walsh said. “I want to be here for them. I want to watch them grow up. So, I’m going to do whatever it takes.”

Andrew Parker, 62 Ann Arbor, Michigan

Even three years later, Andrew Parker and his UChicago Medicine doctor, Michael Bishop, MD, remain awed by the remarkable turnaround they witnessed thanks to CAR T-cell therapy.

In 2016, Parker, then 59, went to his doctor about a swollen leg and was stunned to learn he had aggressive acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He started an array of chemotherapy treatments, but none of them worked. He then tried blinatumomab, a form of immunotherapy, with no real change.

His health was quickly deteriorating.

Then, he was told about an emerging technology in trials offered at UChicago Medicine called CAR T-cell therapy. “They told me Dr. Bishop had something new,” Parker said. “I decided to do it. I had no choice.”

A few weeks after the treatment, the cancer was gone.

Within three months, Parker was healthy enough to return to his job as corporate manager of a tool and die company and resumed all of his normal activities. To protect him from infections, he gets regular infusions of immunoglobulin near his home in Michigan. Every six months, he makes a seven-hour round-trip drive for a 15-minute appointment with Bishop, part of his clinical trial commitment.

“It’s worth every mile,” he said.