Myles is a sweet and thoughtful twelve-year-old. But last spring, Myles began experiencing overwhelming headaches that caused his behavior to become erratic and unusual. The pain and personality change alarmed his parents enough to take him to the emergency room, where a CT scan revealed that Myles had a brain tumor.
Doctors did a biopsy and scheduled surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible. After a ten-hour operation, his surgeon was able to take out 78% of the tumor. The initial pathology showed it to be a high-grade glioma, an aggressive and fast-growing tumor with a very poor prognosis.
“The oncologist and radiologist couldn’t agree on the diagnosis,” said Myles’ mother, Melissa. “I felt all along that they would come back and say it was benign. When I asked the doctor what result he wanted to see, he said, ‘Anything but a high-grade glioma.’ It was then that I knew how bad this was.”
A sample of the tumor was sent for genetic analysis through CURE’s Precision Medicine Program. One of the aims of precision medicine is to confirm or change a diagnosis so patients avoid enduring treatments that would have no chance of working. Today’s treatment for high-grade gliomas includes multiple rounds of radiation combined with toxic chemotherapies, which often cause debilitating long-term side effects. The results of genetic testing altered Myles’ diagnosis and radically changed his treatment path.
Myles’ tumor was proven to be a rare, unclassified tumor. And while it defies classification, scientists understand what causes it to grow, and, more importantly, they have learned how to prevent growth. So rather than harmful chemotherapies and radiation, Myles takes a daily pill. He has experienced no side effects, and the residual tumor has shrunk by more than 40%.
“It is truly a miracle,” shared Melissa. “Genetic testing led us to a treatable tumor with no side effects. Myles is going to school, playing basketball, and doing everything a boy his age should.”
Ironically, Melissa had attended a local CURE event called Catie’s Gathering just months before Myles’ diagnosis.
“It’s surreal to think a year ago was my first year attending Catie’s Gathering. I listened to the stories and the amazing things CURE does to help children with cancer and their families,” Melissa recalled. “I left that evening, never thinking my family would become a CURE family in a few short months. Thanks to CURE, we learned about the genetic testing that changed Myles’ diagnosis from terminal to targeted and treatable.”
Myles’ miracle happened because of you and your support of CURE’s research efforts. Until precision medicine becomes the standard of care for all children, more kids facing childhood cancer are counting on you for their miracle to find effective treatments without life-altering side effects.
