After receiving a cancer diagnosis at age 5, Emily Whitehead’s life underwent a transformation.
The preschooler underwent a yearly health examination in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, in 2010, and all results were negative.
Her 46-year-old mother Kari remembers, ‘Everything was great.’ According to Daily Mail, a week later she discovered bruises all over her daughter’s body, including her back and stomach.
Soon Emily’s gums started bleeding, and the agony would wake her up in the middle of the night. Kari found the symptoms on Google and discovered that ‘these were the classic indicators of leukemia,’ so the next morning, she hurried her to the doctor.
The worst worries were realized a few days later when Emily was given the diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Doctors at the Penn State Health in Hershey, Pennsylvania, gave the young girl an aggressive 26-month chemotherapy regimen.
Emily had high fevers throughout the first several weeks of her treatment and developed a rare illness that nearly needed amputating both of her legs. Despite this, she was in remission a month later.
We had a difficult beginning, but the physicians assured us that chemotherapy was effective for these children when it did. In October 2011, just as things seemed to be going well for Emily, she relapsed.
The 6-year-prognosis old’s from the doctors was a 30% probability of survival. Her father, Tom, said, ‘The news was more upsetting to us than her initial illness.’
‘She has always enjoyed playing practical jokes on us and making us laugh. She greatly improved our life, ‘The 53-year-old man who brought his daughter to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) for a second opinion remarked this.
Tom continued, ‘I told Emily that if I had to crawl to the North Pole, that’s what I would, if that’s what it took to find someone to fix her.
In February 2012, while Emily was getting ready for a bone marrow transplant, her parents contacted specialists to learn about all of the available treatments. ‘We urgently require your assistance, God, if you are up there.
I was half asleep but not quite when I immediately recognized Emily at CHOP. In his book ‘Praying for Emily:
The Faith, Science, and Miracles that Saved Our Daughter,’ he described the visions he had of his daughter’s recovery, writing, ‘And I could see her growing well.’
Sadly, by the end of February, her health had gotten so bad that she was no longer a candidate for a transplant.
But then medical professionals at CHOP informed them that Emily was the first child patient in the FDA-approved Phase 1 clinical study for CAR T-Cell treatment.
Although Tom was aware of the dangers, he also understood that ‘the alternative was to go home on hospice and just watch her die.’
The family took a risk, and it miraculously paid off for them. ‘In light of everything she had been through, it came as a complete surprise. We were simply so thrilled “Kari recalled.
‘My parents undoubtedly made an effort to brighten my day. I still recall that as being extremely wonderful’ Emily, who is now 17 and healthy, added.
After Emily, the treatment has been successfully administered to 15,000 patients with blood cancer. ‘I think it’s crucial to raise awareness about therapies like CAR T cells. I’m grateful to be alive since it’s a miracle’ the teen said.