Historic transplant aimed at ridding boy of both leukemia and HIV

In what doctors are hoping will be the second time in recorded medical history that a patient is cured of both leukemia and HIV, specialists at the University of Minnesota’s Amplatz Children’s Hospital are using a highly experimental transplant to rid the young patient of his diseases. A similar procedure, which was tried once before and succeeded on a patient who went to Germany in 2007, involves injecting the boy with blood cells that are genetically resistant to HIV (an occurrence that involves less than one percent of the world’s population) in an effort to rid the immune system of the infectious cells and ward off future recurrences.  The process itself took only ten minutes.

Afterwards, the patient, whose name is being withheld at this time, received well wishes from friends, family, staff and, much to the delight of the basketball-loving boy, Basketball Hall-of-Famer Julius Erving. According to a report on StarTribune.com, the boy shared his dreams of becoming a professional basketball player to which Erving replied, “Let’s take it one day at a time. I’ll be praying for you.” Erving also sent him a personally autographed basketball which the boy held snugly at his side during the transfusion.

The boy’s mother released a statement Tuesday saying, “This is the beginning of a new chance for me to have a healthier kid. I am thankful for the University of Minnesota giving him the chance to live.” The patient, who lives out of state, will remain at the hospital for at least four more weeks as doctors and others monitor him for any signs of infection. Furthermore, he will be unable to return home for another three months, although sources declined to say why.

Timothy Ray Brown, the man who was cured of both his leukemia and HIV (and has remained disease-free since) managed to sneak in a call to the boy to say, “As the first person in the world to be cured of HIV,” Brown, who lives in Las Vegas, told the boy, “I’m hoping that you’ll be the second.”