Mom says new cancer treatment, now offered in B.C., saved son's life

British Columbia is beginning to offer a cutting-edge immunotherapy cancer treatment for some patients who haven't had success with standard chemotherapy or radiation.

Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, commonly referred to as CAR-T, treats lymphoma and leukemia by collecting a patient's white blood cells and genetically engineering them to recognize and kill cancer cells, according to B.C. Cancer.

Dr. Kim Chi, chief medical officer for B.C. Cancer, says patients who needed the treatment would previously have to be sent outside the province or country.

Provincial Health Minister Adrian Dix says $14.3 million in this year's budget means up to 20 adults and five children will be able to get CAR-T at Vancouver General Hospital and B.C. Children's Hospital starting this month.

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Chi says the therapy is an example of how far cancer treatments have evolved, driven by "cutting edge" research and technology, including a CAR-T clinical trial run by the province's cancer agency.

MJ Asrat, whose son Hugo received CAR-T therapy as part of a B.C. Children's Hospital clinical trial, told the press conference announcing the funding that it made her son healthy enough to receive a bone-marrow transplant after nearly four years of traditional chemotherapy to treat his leukemia. 

She said the eight-year-old is now cancer free and "embracing the joys of childhood once again."

"To the medical researchers who tirelessly push the boundaries of science, and to the selfless donors who give hope to families like ours, we owe you an immeasurable debt of gratitude," she said.