Jake Maguire was just three days away from his sixth birthday when he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Encouraged by his father, a gym teacher, the young Maguire was already in love with sports, especially baseball. Now 23 and over a decade out of treatment, that love is still strong, and Maguire is … Read more
First Cinthia Roman Manrique learned she had acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Then the 8-year-old Peru native was uprooted from her school, family, and friends when she flew with her mother in early 2017 to the United States — where chances of a cure for her high-risk cancer were better. In the U.S., Cinthia’s challenges continued … Read more
Rosemary Iwakura, 17, was experiencing strange symptoms before her acute lymphoblastic leukemia diagnosis (ALL) almost two years ago. She was unable to focus on her schoolwork or activities and fainted on several occasions at school and at home. “I thought; ‘People faint for many reasons,’” she recalls. “We weren’t sure if we were supposed to … Read more
Nytasha Jette was panicked when her two-month-old son, Elyahs Jones, was found to have an extraordinarily high white blood cell count — over 300,000 — during a regular check-up. The family physician noted that Jones had very pale hands and was worried that the child wasn’t getting proper blood flow. Jette rushed Jones to Dana-Farber/Boston … Read more
To see Tara Daniels today, with a corporate job in marketing and about to close on a house, you’d never know what she’s been through, how thrilled she is to be alive. This month marks five years since she received a high-risk bone marrow transplant for a life-threatening blood cancer. Tara woke up feeling sick … Read more
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the second most common leukemia diagnosed in children. It is hard to treat and can be fatal in some cases. While there have been some recent successes with genetically targeted therapies for adults, AML has different genetic features in children, and care has been slow to advance. “The state of care … Read more
When Minnesota native Charles “Woody” Hubbell went to college, he thought his biggest hurdle would be the culture shock of attending an east coast school that he had never visited in person. But his freshman year, he fell completely in love with the Boston College community and his friends as he pursued a major in … Read more
Her home is filled with plants, inside and out, but one holds special significance for Tara Daniels. A visitor could easily miss it amongst its more grandiose neighbors, but to her it serves as a reminder of the most challenging period of her life — and how she got through it. Back in 2016, the … Read more
Leukemias involving reshuffling or rearrangement of the mixed lineage leukemia (MLL) gene, known as MLL-rearranged or MLL-r leukemias, account for 70 to 80 percent of acute leukemias in infants under one year old. In these blood cancers, a subset of acute myeloid and acute lymphoid leukemias (AML and ALL), the MLL gene breaks and reattaches to the wrong section … Read more
When Samantha Price’s four-year-old daughter, Shelby, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) in October 2019, Price had so many questions about what the future held for both of them. What would the highs and lows of treatment look and feel like for Shelby, and how could she best care for her daughter throughout the … Read more
Due to COVID-19, Ava Girolimetti doesn’t know if she will be starting middle school this September in a classroom, on a computer screen, or a combination of both. But thanks to CAR T-cell therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), she plans to be there cancer-free. The rising sixth grader can make this claim as one … Read more
By Ben Lepper Most people my age look at COVID-19 as a burden on their everyday lives of seeing friends, hanging out, and going to college. I see it differently. As an active cancer patient being treated for T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), I am immunocompromised. This puts me at especially high risk for … Read more
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a blood cancer affecting both adults and children, requires more than one genetic “hit” to develop. As we age, many of us acquire a mutation that enables certain of our blood cells to multiply faster than others, forming their own distinct population. This first hit, known as “clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate … Read more
Ali Mercy was an eight-year-old with relapsed acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) in need of a stem cell transplant. First, however, his father Abrahim had to find a country willing to provide Ali with the life-saving procedure. Transplants were not performed in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where Abrahim and Ali lived together in the city … Read more
Medically reviewed by Lewis Silverman, MD A greater understanding of the genomics of pediatric leukemia — the genetic errors and irregularities that underlie the disease — has enabled researchers to divide the disease into additional subtypes. This has improved physicians’ ability to identify patients with an increased risk of relapse and to prescribe treatments to … Read more
Leukemia is a type of cancer of the blood that develops in the bone marrow. The disease is the most common type of childhood cancer, and it typically presents in children between the ages of two and six. Still, the disease is rare in children; leukemia is most commonly seen in adults. Subtypes of … Read more
After undergoing a promising new treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), Cole Malone is back to doing what he loves: playing on a flag football team with his twin brother, Michael. Cole and Michael Malone, who are 14, already know plenty about teamwork. Michael served as a perfect-match donor when Cole underwent a stem cell … Read more
Pediatric leukemia patient Emma Duffin is in remission, thanks to the stem cell transplant made possible by her brother, Alexander.
Leukemia, which usually occurs because of a mutation — or DNA change — is the most common childhood cancer. Some genetic syndromes can create a predisposition to leukemia, as well as other blood disorders.