17-year-old is declared cured of cancer 10 years after undergoing revolutionary therapy

A teen who was only given weeks to live while battling leukemia as a child has been declared cured of cancer a decade after undergoing a revolutionary therapy.

Emily Whitehead, 17, from Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, was just six years old when she became the first pediatric patient in the world to have CAR T-cell therapy — a treatment in which a patient’s own cells are engineered to attack cancer cells.  

The 2012 clinical trial was the last option for Emily, whose acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) had become resistant to conventional therapies. She has been cancer-free ever since. 

‘Spreading awareness about treatments like CAR T-cell is really important to me,’ she told People. ‘It’s a miracle I’m alive — and I am so grateful.’ 

Emily was five-years-old when she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in 2010. She went into remission a month after she started chemotherapy

Emily’s cancer journey started in 2010, a week after she had been given a clean bill of health at her annual checkup. 

Emily relapsed in October 2011 and was given just a 30% chance of survival

Her mother, Kari, noticed she had unusual bruises on her body and then bleeding gums. She was also waking up in the middle of the night in crippling pain. 

Kari told the outlet that she Googled her five-year-old daughter’s symptoms and discovered they were ‘the classic signs of leukemia.’ 

Days later, doctors at Penn State Health in Hershey, Pennsylvania, diagnosed the preschooler with ALL, and she was put on a 26-month chemotherapy regimen.

Kari said it was a ‘rough start’ for Emily, who suffered dangerously high fevers during the first few weeks at treatment. She also almost had to have both of her legs amputated after developing a rare infection.

Despite her initial struggles, the treatment worked, and she was in remission one month later. However, Emily relapsed in October 2011, and the then six-year-old was given just a 30 percent chance of survival. 

‘The news was more devastating to us than her original diagnosis,’ Emily’s father, Tom, recalled. ‘I told Emily that if I had to crawl to the North Pole, I would, if that’s what it took to find someone to fix her.’

Emily (pictured with her parents Tom and Kari Whitehead) became resistant to treatment after her leukemia rapidly progressed 

By February 2012, her health had deteriorated to the point that she became ineligible for a bone marrow transplant to treat the disease

Emily’s leukemia progressed rapidly and became resistant to chemotherapy. By February 2012, her health had deteriorated to the point that she became ineligible for a bone marrow transplant to treat the disease. 

Her parents were told they were out of options, but they refused to give up. Tom took Emily to get a second opinion at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

‘I was just praying like, “God, if you’re up there, we need help right now.” I was kind of asleep but not really and I suddenly saw Emily at CHOP. And I could see her getting better,’ he told People.

Tom, who wrote about the vision in his book, Praying for Emily: The Faith, Science, and Miracles that Saved Our Daughter, knew she would recover after that moment. 

After her parents were told they were out of options, they took her to get a second opinion at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)

Emily became the first pediatric patient in the world to have CAR T-cell therapy, a treatment in which a patient’s own cells are engineered to attack cancer cells

In May 2012, a bone marrow test showed that all of her cancer was gone just 23 days after she underwent the treatment

Emily was able to beat the odds thanks to a groundbreaking treatment that was made available right when she needed it. 

Dr. Stephan Grupp, the inaugural director of the Susan S. and Stephen P. Kelly Center for Cancer Immunotherapy at CHOP, had just been approved to open the first phase 1 trial for CAR T-cell therapy in pediatric patients with ALL. 

‘CAR T-cell therapy harnesses the power of a patient’s own immune system by reengineering their T cells to attack proteins found on the surface of cancer cells,’ according to CHOP.

There were risks involved, but Emily’s parents agreed to enroll her in the trial. Kari explained that it ‘wasn’t a hard decision’ to make considering their lack of options.

Emily and her family launched the Emily Whitehead Foundation in 2015 to raise awareness for CAR T-cell therapy

‘In the end, her outcomes far exceeded our most optimistic expectations,’ said Emily’s doctor, Dr. Stephan Grupp (pictured) 

Emily has been cancer-free for the past decade and was declared cured when she turned 17 in May. She recently got her driver’s license and is applying to colleges 

‘The alternative was to go home on hospice and just watch her die,’ Tom added. 

Emily was the first pediatric patient ever to receive the CAR T-cell therapy, as well as the first person of any age to receive it for ALL. 

In May 2012, a bone marrow test showed that all of her cancer was gone just 23 days after she underwent the treatment.

Three years later, she and her family launched the Emily Whitehead Foundation to raise awareness for CAR T-cell therapy. 

CAR T-cell therapy (or chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy) is a form of immunotherapy that uses the power of a patient’s immune system to fight the disease

Emily has been cancer-free for the past decade, and she was declared in cured when she turned 17 in May. She recently got her driver’s license and is now applying to colleges. 

The Whitehead family has shared their incredible story in the documentary Of Medicine and Miracles, which debuted at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival in June. 

‘Ten years ago, we had no idea what to expect,’ Dr. Grupp told CHOP of the therapy. ‘Would the treatment work? Would it last? In the end, her outcomes far exceeded our most optimistic expectations — not only did the treatment work for completely uncontrolled disease, but her engineered T cells endured and prevented relapse for what has now been 10 years.

‘We have since treated more than 440 patients at CHOP with this therapy, and thousands of pediatric patients around the world have received it as well. It has truly been a revolution in pediatric cancer care, and it started with Emily.’