Brother donates stem cells to sister battling leukemia

On September 24, 2015, in a sixth floor room at Boston Children’s Hospital, 5-year-old Logan Lesselroth pressed the button that started the transfer of his newly harvested blood stem cells to his 3-year-old sister, Gianna. “This,” Gianna told him, “is a gift from your body.” The path to that moment and the stem cell transplant’s potential to cure Gianna of her relapsed leukemia was anything but straightforward. Logan has a genetic condition called medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (MCADD), which makes it difficult for his body to convert sugar to energy. Would his metabolic disorder be passed to Gianna? Would the disorder make it too risky for Logan to have his stem cells harvested? Diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at the age of 4½ months, Gianna achieved a remission that lasted two years. In May 2015, the leukemia was back. With that, Mike and Marissa Lesselroth sought options for their daughter in their home state of Florida and beyond. “We talked to her doctors in Florida, and they agreed that coming to Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s was the best choice for Gianna because they offered a lot of treatment options for relapsed leukemia,” Mike says. Dr. Lewis Silverman, clinical director of Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center’s Hematologic Malignancy Center, recommended Gianna first try a chemotherapy clinical trial, followed by a stem cell transplant if her leukemia went into remission. If that didn’...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Diseases & Conditions Our Patients’ Stories Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia CAR T-cell Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center Dr. Lewis Silverman Dr. Olaf Bodamer Dr. Steven Margossian Hematologic Malignancy Center Source Type: news