The Childhood Cancer Blog

The Childhood Cancer Blog

Welcome to The Childhood Cancer Blog
from Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation!

CJ and Hope Miller

They never thought it would happen twice. 

Hope and CJ Miller are as close as siblings can be. Less than a year apart in age, they enjoy pranking each other and simply being each other’s best friend.    

When Hope was in seventh grade, a test in her PE class led to an early dismissal from school. Her blood pressure and pulse were elevated, and she had difficulty breathing. Over the next three months, a visit to her primary care physician and four bronchoscopies would confirm a diagnosis: mucoepidermoid carcinoma, a rare form of lung cancer that made itself at home in Hope's... Read More

Then and Now: Cass was just 10 years old, when her brother Jimmy was diagnosed with leukemia.

Then and Now: Cass was just 10 years old, when her brother Jimmy was diagnosed with leukemia.

Cass Butler was just 10 when her brother was diagnosed with childhood cancer. That experience changed the entire trajectory of her life.

“I didn’t understand because he looked and felt fine,” remembers Cass. 

The hospital became a home away from home for Cass and her family. Every evening, Cass, her other brother and father would make the drive to the hospital for dinner as a family. Cass knew all the places to hide and the best treats to get at the hospital. 

“Pediatric cancer changes a family in a way nothing else really can,” said Cass, who is now 26 years old... Read More

  • Austin was diagnosed with leukemia just before his third birthday. Austin had his first CAR T treatment in October 2013. Today, he is 13 years old and a typical teen boy.
    Austin was diagnosed with leukemia just before his third birthday. Austin had his first CAR T treatment in October 2013. Today, he is 14 years old and a typical teen boy.
  • Before CAR T immunotherapy was approved by the FDA, it was Stephan Grupp, MD/PhD from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who delivered the first CAR T treatment to a patient — Emily Whitehead.
    Before CAR T immunotherapy was approved by the FDA, it was Stephan Grupp, MD/PhD from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who delivered the first CAR T treatment to a patient — Emily Whitehead.

In 2017, the FDA approved CAR T cell immunotherapy as a treatment for children with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who have relapsed or didn’t respond to standard regimens.

CAR T cell immunotherapy makes use of a patient’s own immune cells, which are genetically modified to seek out and kill cancer cells. 

But before CAR T immunotherapy was approved by the FDA, it was Stephan Grupp, MD/PhD from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) who delivered the... Read More

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