A boy from Belgian is being named as the first person to be cured of brainstem glioma, a type of central nervous system tumor that comes with a grim prognosis.
According to Science Alert, French doctor Jacques Grill still gets emotional when he recalls having to tell then-six-year-old Lucas Jemeljanova’s parents that their son was going to die. But seven years later, Lucas has defied his prognosis and there is no trace of the tumor left.
“Lucas beat all the odds,” said Grill, who is the head of the brain tumor program at Gustave Roussy Cancer Center in Paris. Brainstem glioma, officially known as diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), affects about 300 children every year in the United States and up to 100 a year in France. Most children diagnosed with DIPG do not typically live more than a year, and only 10% are alive two years after diagnosis. About 98% will die within five years.
Lucas traveled with his family from Belgium to France so he could take part in the BIOMEDE trial to test potential new drugs such as Everolimus for DIPG.
“Over a series of MRI scans, I watched as the tumor completely disappeared,” said Grill. He added, “I don’t know of any other case like him in the world.”
Grill noted, “Lucas’s tumor had an extremely rare mutation which we believe made its cells far more sensitive to the drug.”
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Though there were “biological particularities” in Lucas’s tumor that made him more receptive to the treatment, researchers believe they can use his case to help other children survive.
“Lucas’s case offers real hope,” said Marie-Anne Debily, a researcher overseeing the lab work. “We will try to reproduce in vitro the differences that we have identified in his cells.” She added, “[The] next step will be to find a drug that has the same effect on tumor cells as these cellular changes.”
While it could take 10-15 years for the experimental med to become available, Lucas’s case has convinced researchers and doctors that future patients with DIPG will stand a better chance at being cured.
In Lucas’s home nation of Belgium, euthanasia is legal for children who are considered to be ‘terminally ill.’ The first child was legally killed by physician-assisted death in Belgium in 2016 because he or she was diagnosed with an incurable disease.
Lucas’s recovery from what was considered to be a terminal diagnosis is proof that there is always hope, and that medicine is continuously advancing to help people survive illnesses that were once thought to be incompatible with life. It takes a family and a person willing to fight for survival and take part in studies, as Lucas did, for the next cure to be found.
Killing people by euthanasia or abortion will not heal anyone.
