It's the good news of the last few days. Young Lucas, a 12-year-old Belgian boy, had been battling a cancer deemed incurable for six years. He was suffering from an infiltrating glioma of the brain stem, a particularly aggressive pediatric cancer. If we're talking in the past tense, it's because the teenager now seems to have recovered 100% from the disease.
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A world first
A remission that intrigues the specialists and delights the parents. Lucas' father, Cédric, recalls the early days in an interview with Le Parisien:
We were full of hope, but the doctors were clear. They gave us the statistics, which were not good, not good at all...
The child was treated by French doctors at the Gustave-Roussy Institute in Villejuif. They have completely stopped the treatments, a sign that all is well with Lucas.
Lucas, 12 ans, est-il le premier enfant au monde à vaincre un cancer incurable ?
— Le Parisien (@le_Parisien) September 29, 2023
6 ans après son diagnostic et 1 an après la fin de son traitement, il ne présente plus de trace d’une tumeur extrêmement agressive
➡️ https://t.co/dOQX4UHiXZpic.twitter.com/DhieC2cZtG
Today, the tumor has been completely eliminated. The primary physician who treated Lucas says:
I didn't know when to stop, or how, because there was no reference anywhere in the world...
When the treatment was stopped, Lucas' parents experienced a 'dizzying' moment. And for good reason: their son had just beaten this cancer, clearly a world first. However, the parents refuse to talk about a cure.
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Possible treatment?
Lucas' case represents real hope for doctors and patients alike. Could this kind of disease now be cured? Dr Jacques Grill spoke to Le Parisien:
We think Lucas had a particular form of the disease. We need to understand what it is and why, so that we can reproduce in other patients what happened naturally to him. That would be fantastic.
The same is true of his father:
We'd so much like this to work, for Lucas not to be the exception.
We agree with him. Let's hope this means good news for other kids too!
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This article has been translated from Oh!MyMag FR.
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