The CAR-T Blog
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Yesterday, April 6, 2022, I had 2½ years of hair growth shorn. My last haircut had been before the annual ASH conference held in December 2019.
On March 22, 2018, I was an outpatient at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance where I was transfused with my own T-cells that had been harvested a few weeks earlier, then genetically reengineered to attack my cancer, multiplied manyfold, then reinjected into my bloodstream to rest up, grow again,
🎶 It was 2 short years ago today, my CAR-T cells really learnt to play, They have been going in and out of glands, no guarantee that they would expand But let me tell their story to you, the treatment that so new these years, Brian Koffman’s splendid CAR-T
I stopped taking ibrutinib on February 20, 2020, a few months short of my 8-year anniversary. As I discussed in my last blog post, this was a difficult decision with conflicting advice. Would my CLL remain quiescent or would my lymphocyte count shoot up? Would my ITP (immune thrombocytopenic
On May 7, 2012 I took my first dose of PCI-32765 at Ohio State University, in Columbus, OH as part of a phase 1 trial of the drug that would later revolutionize the treatment of CLL as ibrutunib. But for the first several years it was known only by
Dr. Brian Koffman explains his post-CAR-T bone marrow biopsy which will employ next generation sequencing by means of clonoSEQ testing that can find as few as one in a million CLL cells, not by looking for the cells themselves, as flow cytometry does when it scans the cells’ surface
Our own Dr. Koffman was interviewed at ASH 2019 about importance of attending ASH for advocates, his own research, his highlights from ASH and much more. You can watch it here.
Friday night, March 22, was an important date for me, a special anniversary. On March 22, 2018, exactly 1 year earlier in Seattle, I was thrilled to know that the scientists had been able to produce my bespoke genetically modified cells, engineered to kill my CLL and that these
Brian posts on his CAR-T blog and the grief and joy in the CLL world. Also more on swimming.
July 1, 2008, Canada Day, was my first Day Zero- my first shot at a cure when after conditioning chemo-immunotherapy of FCR, I received my hematopoietic stem cells from an unrelated donor who I later discovered was a wonderful rabbinic student from Israel. The allogeneic HSCT didn’t work, but
Let me start with the good news. And it’s almost all good news. The deep sequencing of my bone marrow showed no copies of my CLL cells’ signature. Let me explain what this means. When my marrow was loaded with chronic lymphocytic leukemia before starting my CAR-T therapy, in
I haven’t posted in a while as I have been too busy celebrating my new status. And packing to go home and unpacking after more than 2 months with my cancer road show. What I am celebrating? While it far too soon to even consider the C- word-
When we recover, when we recuperate, we are taught to listen to our bodies and be sensitive and responsive to the messages we receive. And I sure get a lot of messages. Which should I tune in to? I find this advice annoying and confusing: I am tired, so
Killing Frenzy from our CAR-T comic book I received my CAR-T cells on March 22, a Thursday, so Thursdays, every 7 days, are my days of reckoning when I get tested for just about everything imaginable. And, yesterday, April 19, was the 4th Thursday since my infusion so I
CAR-T therapy is not easy. Even the easy parts are not that easy. Most good things in life are not that easy. At least for me. They take work. I am continuing to mend but still find walking a real challenge. Knees are inflamed and muscles are weak and
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