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J U ST S U P P O S E
N I C H O L A S ’ S T O RY
T H E P E D I AT R I C C A N C E R P R O G R A M AT T H E S I D N E Y K I M M E L
C O M P R E H E N S I V E C A N C E R C E N T E R AT J O H N S H O P K I N S
T H E S TO RY I S TO L D O F A L I T T L E B OY W H O
F I N D S T H O U S A N D S O F S TA R F I S H W A S H E D
U P O N T H E B E A C H A F T E R A B I G S TO R M . H O W
C O U L D H E S A V E T H E M A L L? A F T E R A L L ,
W H AT D I F F E R E N C E C O U L D O N E P E R S O N
P O S S I B LY M A K E ? H E R E A C H E D D O W N A N D
T H R E W O N E F I S H B AC K I N , T H E N A N OT H E R .
“ I M A D E A D I F F E R E N C E TO T H I S O N E ,
A N D T H I S O N E ,” H E S A I D .
J U ST S U PP OS E O U R C O M M U N I T Y S AW
C H I L D H O O D C A N C E R S T H E S A M E W AY.
H E R E I S A S TO RY O F T H E
DI FFE R E NCE WE CAN MAKE.
NICHOLAS’ STORY
CAROLINE AND LLEW BROWN immediately knew
something was wrong with their newborn son. They
had two other children, so when Caroline was changing
6-week-old Nicholas’ diaper and saw blood, not
surprisingly, she was alarmed. The couple immediately
alerted their pediatrician.
For a few months the doctor pursued possible
allergens that could be causing Nicholas’ symptoms
and adjusted his diet accordingly, but the bleeding persisted. “There seemed to be no logical answer,” says
Caroline. So, at just 5 months old Nicholas had to
undergo a colonoscopy. The test, which uses a scope
to visualize the inside of the colon, revealed inflammation. That explained the bleeding, but the test did
not uncover a cause of the inflammation.
Nicholas’ illness remained a mystery. Caroline’s
maternity leave was ending, and she enrolled
Nicholas in daycare before returning to her job as
vice provost in the Office of Institutional Equity at
The Johns Hopkins University. Within weeks of his
enrollment, a new problem surfaced. Nicholas began
having alarmingly high fevers with no identifiable
cause and was too sick to remain in daycare. Caroline
and Llew were accustomed to the occasional bug and
accompanying fever, but they had never experienced
anything like this with their other children.
After several courses of antibiotics failed to clear
the mysterious infection that was causing Nicholas’
repeated fevers, he was admitted to The Johns
Hopkins Hospital for further tests. Over the next two
weeks, a team of pediatric disease experts worked to
uncover the cause of Nicholas’ unusual illness. “It was
the longest 12 days of our lives,” recalls Caroline. “Our
son was so sick.” Waiting for test results to deliver an
answer was excruciating, and uncertainty caused
Caroline and Llew to imagine the worst.
When an X-ray revealed an abnormal mass in
Nicholas’ lung, their fears seemed to be justified.
Pediatric cancer expert Patrick Brown was consulted
to determine if the mass was cancer. Caroline and
Llew could not imagine a worse diagnosis than cancer,
so they were relieved when Dr. Brown said the mass
in Nicholas’ lung did not look like cancer. This comfort
was short-lived, however, as Caroline and Llew still did
not have a name for the clandestine illness ravaging
their baby boy’s body.
A S B A D A S CA N C E R
Tests showed that the mass in Nicholas’ lung was a
clump of immune cells, not cancer cells. This was
essential information for Johns Hopkins immunologist
Howard Lederman. It provided evidence of a disease
JUST SUPPOSE
that all but the most highly trained doctors might
have missed. Dr. Lederman used it to zero in on an
unlikely diagnosis.
The collection of immune cells in Nicholas’s lung,
which appeared to be having no effect on the infection,
caused Dr. Lederman to suspect an obscure inherited
genetic disorder known as
chronic granulomatous dis- CHRONIC
GRANULOMATOUS
ease (CGD). The disease is DISEASE is an
rare, but Dr. Lederman’s high- inherited disorder
ly tuned skills and expertise in which immune
allowed him to recognize the system cells do not
signs. A blood test confirmed function properly.
This leads to ongoing
his suspicion.
and severe infection.
In CGD, the immune system
is unable to fight certain bacterial and fungal infections. The effect is recurrent and treatment-resistant
infections. Immune cells locate the infection, but are
unable to kill it. As a result, more and more immune
cells collect at the site of the infection, forming a
masslike clump of cells known as a granuloma.
Caroline immediately took to the Internet to learn
more about this strange disease. She was panicked
by what she read. Phrases like “no cure,” “short life
expectancy” and “many die without a diagnosis”
jumped from the screen. A week ago, she could not
imagine a diagnosis worse than cancer, but now she
feared this strange disease she had never heard of
was just as deadly.
When Caroline and Llew met with Dr. Lederman
to discuss treatment for Nicholas, they learned there
was no cure for CGD, but he offered a plan to control
the disease. He also advised Caroline to stay away from
Internet descriptions. He said the disease was so rare
and misunderstood that much of the information was
outdated and incorrect. Dr. Lederman was hopeful,
and he promised a cure within Nicholas’ lifetime.
ADJUSTING TO LIFE WITH A RARE DISEASE
Caroline and Llew were still trying to understand
what was happening to Nicholas. Dr. Lederman
likened the disease to a firetruck that is summoned to
the scene of a fire, but has no water to douse it. “In
CGD, immune cells locate the organism, but they are
unable to kill it. They call more and more cells to the
scene, but still they are unable to fight the infection,”
explains Dr. Lederman. The immune system is not
completely knocked out, but certain types of infections
are difficult for CGD patients to fight. Unchecked,
these infections become very serious, as the Brown
family understood all too well.
At just 6 months old, Nicholas had undergone
more tests and procedures than most people experience in a lifetime. The last month saw two surgeries
and treatment in the pediatric intensive care unit as
doctors worked to pin down the infectious organism
causing his lung infection. They needed this information
to formulate a treatment that would allow his compromised immune system to fend it off.
The Brown Family
The next year would not prove to be any easier.
The diagnosis did not bring an end to the difficult
procedures and treatments. Instead, it marked the
beginning of new ones. There were frequent injections
of interferon gamma to help his body fight off infections and a whole host of antifungal, antibiotic and
SUCH A RARE DISEASE COULD HAVE BEEN EASILY OVER LOOKED BY DOCTOR S.
CAROLINE AND LLEW R ECOGNIZ ED THAT THE SKILL AND EXPER IENCE OF THIS
JOHNS HOPKINS TEAM LI KELY SAVED THEIR SON’S LIFE, B UT THEY SHU DDER ED
AT THE POSSIB ILITY OF WHAT LIE AH EAD FOR HIM.
T H E S I D N E Y K I M M E L C O M P R E H E N S I V E C A N C E R C E N T E R AT J O H N S H O P K I N S
other prophylactic medications aimed at protecting
him from deadly infections.
Caroline and Llew soon learned about all of the
pathogens that exist among the things people commonly come in contact with on a daily basis. For people
with healthy immune systems, their bodies go to work
fighting these germs, usually without them ever noticing.
For people with CGD, these invisible invaders can
attack and overwhelm their fragile immune systems,
causing the widespread inflammation, infections, and
fevers Nicholas was experiencing. A simple trip to the
park could put him in contact with organisms his
body could not defend against.
The Brown family’s life was turned upside down as
they made adjustments to keep Nicholas safe. Nicholas’
small and weakened body was at war with mold,
bacteria, and a host of microbes. He could play in grass
but not in areas with dirt or mulch. He could swim in
pools, but a beach was definitely out of the question.
There was no such thing as normal anymore. It was
particularly difficult for Nicholas’ sister Madeleine,
and brother Christopher. CGD affected the entire
family. Routine family activities, such as trips to the
playground or the beach, were too risky for Nicholas’
fragile immune system. Impromptu trips anywhere
were a thing of the past. Any venturing outside of
their home had to be well thought out and planned.
For Nicholas, danger could lurk almost anywhere.
was the challenge of managing the routine colds and
illnesses of Nicholas’ sister and brother. When they got
sick—which fortunately did not happen frequently—
Caroline and Llew had to limit their contact with
Nicholas. A simple run-of-the-mill bug that most
children fend off in a day or two could be deadly for
Nicholas. “We were always on guard,” says Llew.
The winter of 2012 pushed them to their limits.
Between December and March, Nicholas was hospitalized four times for dangerous infections. During
this period, he stopped eating and began refusing
medications just as more medicines were needed.
A feeding tube was added to his treatment regimen.
“This was a particularly bad period,” says Caroline.
“We started to feel like nothing was going to make
him better, and we never knew what bad news was
coming next. We felt defeated.”
A LI F E C O N T R O LLE D BY A D I S E A S E
Despite assiduous diligence by Caroline and Llew in
implementing lifestyle changes and all of the medicines
designed to protect him, Nicholas still got sick. Some
infections could be managed at home with medication
and outpatient doctor visits, but others were more
serious and resulted in hospital stays. The pattern
continued over the next three years. “He was admitted
to the hospital at least once a year,” Llew says.
“He would get out and be OK for a couple of months.
Then, some infection would get him, and it would be
chest X-rays, lab work, and tweaking medications.”
The sheer number of medical tests, procedures, and
visits to the doctor were emotionally and financially
draining for the Brown family. Nicholas couldn’t go
to daycare, so the Browns had to hire a full-time nanny
to care for him when they were at work. Then, there
Nicholas battles a rare immune disease
CA N C E R P R OV I D E S T H E C U R E
Caroline and Llew remembered so well the fearful
day a few years earlier when they were told Nicholas
might have cancer. The events of the following months
and years revealed to them that there are diseases as
bad—potentially even worse—than cancer. Now, in an
odd twist, cancer—the disease they once feared the
most—would provide the knowledge that could bring
an end to the suffering Nicholas had endured for the
first four years of his life. Nicholas didn’t have cancer,
but his only hope for a permanent cure for his
JUST SUPPOSE
debilitating immune disease came in the form of a
revolutionary version of a decades-old cancer treatment called bone marrow transplantation.
At first Caroline and Llew were as fearful of the
cancer treatment as they were of cancer itself.
“I remember thinking, ‘You mean you have to nearly
kill my son in order to save him?’” says Caroline. She
wanted no part of it. Llew, a former nurse, was open to
learning more about the treatment. It was an intensive
therapy for sure, one that called for chemotherapy
and radiation to destroy Nicholas’ bone marrow—the
factory for his malfunctioning immune system—so
that it could be replaced with marrow from a healthy,
matching donor.
The treatment had significant risks. When Johns
Hopkins and other experts pioneered the therapy in
the late 1960s and early 1970s, life-threatening side
effects, including graft rejection, infections, and a
condition known as graft versus host disease (GVHD)
were common. GVHD occurred when the donor marrow—and the immune cells within it—did not recognize its new host. The donor immune cells instead
saw the patient as a foreign invader and attacked vital
tissues and organs. Over the next 40 years, Kimmel
Cancer Center experts continued to refine and
improve bone marrow transplantation. They became
so good at managing GVHD that the treatment was
now safe enough to use for debilitating noncancer diseases like CGD.
In conjunction with Dr. Lederman, pediatric bone
marrow transplant expert Heather Symons hosted
educational sessions for families of children with CGD
so they could learn more about
bone marrow transplant as a
treatment option. Despite the
long history Johns Hopkins
Kimmel Cancer Center experts
had in bone marrow transplant,
treatment of noncancer diseases
was relatively new. As a result, parents were often
reluctant. “For patients with cancer, the decision to
proceed with a bone marrow transplant is often a clear
choice. It’s not always that way with CGD,” says Symons.
“It’s a difficult choice for parents to make. They have to
consider the lifelong risks of a serious chronic disease
and weigh it against the benefits of bone marrow trans-
The long road to a cure
plant—and all of its potential consequences, some not
so good—before they can move ahead.”
Still, Dr. Symons reached out to parents because
she felt it was important for them to have all of the
information they needed to make an informed decision. Bone marrow transplantation offered something
other CGD therapies could not—the chance for their
children to be cured.
A M UCH-N E E DE D B R EAK
Test after test did not reveal the source of Nicholas’
latest and most resistant infection. After exhausting
all other treatments, Dr. Lederman decided to try
prednisone to quiet the inflammation throughout his
body. It was risky because it could further dampen
Nicholas’ already hampered immune system.
It worked amazingly. “Nicholas was the healthiest
he had ever been,” says Llew. Dr. Lederman warned his
parents that it was only a temporary fix. Nicholas could
not stay on prednisone indefinitely, so he encouraged
them to reconsider a bone marrow transplant.
Llew was receptive. “We still had no idea what had
caused his most recent bout with infection and fevers,
and although the prednisone was working, we knew
he couldn’t stay on it,” says Llew. “I didn’t want to
go back to the point where he was so sick. We had to
figure something out.”
Nicholas was about to turn 5. Caroline wanted him
to be able to go school and have a normal life filled
with the activities of childhood that their other
T H E S I D N E Y K I M M E L C O M P R E H E N S I V E C A N C E R C E N T E R AT J O H N S H O P K I N S
Nicholas and big sister Madeleine
children had enjoyed. For most parents, sending their
children off to school when they are old enough is a
given. For children with CGD, daycares, schools, and
playgrounds were fraught with peril. Caroline and
Llew wanted something better for Nicholas.
Nicholas’ excellent response to treatment with
prednisone lifted the imminent health threat. Dr.
Lederman advised Caroline and Llew that if they
were going to proceed with a bone marrow transplant,
this was the right time.
T H E M ATC H
Using a bone marrow donor
whose immune system is a perfect match to the patient is the
key to safety because it reduces
the chances that patients will
reject the new marrow or develop a severe form of GVHD.
Siblings of the patient provide
the best shot for a perfect match,
so the first step for the Brown
family was a blood test for
Madeleine and Christopher to
see if their immune fingerprints
matched Nicholas. Caroline and
Llew were also tested.
If a perfect match could not
be found in the family, the
chances of finding an unrelated
donor through public registries were small. Nicholas
is African-American, and for patients of color, the
odds of finding a bone marrow match through unrelated donor registries were less than 10 percent. Caroline
was optimistic that someone in the family would be a
match. “I thought nothing else could go wrong,” she
says. “With all of the awful stuff that has happened,
one of us has to be a match.”
Two weeks later when the results came back,
Dr. Lederman delivered the disappointing news that
Caroline and Llew were not perfect matches.
Madeleine and Christopher were perfect matches for
each other, but neither was a match for Nicholas. “It
was devastating,” says Caroline. “We felt like we were
out of options again.”
Dr. Symons offered another possibility. “Our
mission is to be able to offer bone marrow transplant
to all patients who need it and eliminate the ability to
find a donor as an obstacle to getting the curative
therapy,” she says. With this goal in mind, Kimmel
Cancer Center researchers had pioneered a new
way of performing a specific type of bone marrow
transplant, called haploidentical or half-matched
transplant. This breakthrough discovery made bone
marrow transplant possible for nearly every patient
who needed it. Our experts had learned how to prevent
rejection and manage GVHD
so well that they could now
use half-matching bone
marrow donors. Now, it was
possible for parents—who are
always half matches to their
children—siblings, and potentially aunts and uncles, nieces
and nephews, half-siblings,
and even grandparents to
safely serve as donors.
Kimmel Cancer Center
experts were the innovators
of this new type of bone marrow transplant regimen, and it
was the only place in the
world that offered the therapy
for non-cancer disorders. They
had performed more than 500
half-identical transplants for
Nicholas gets Dad's bone marrow
JUST SUPPOSE
Dad Llew and Nicholas
adult and pediatric leukemia and lymphoma with safety
and toxicity comparable to traditional transplants. Dr.
Symons led the trials in pediatric patients. The treatment had become so safe that experts now expanded its
use to diseases beyond cancer.
Caroline and Llew would soon learn that outside
of Johns Hopkins, there were many skeptics. Most
hospitals with bone marrow transplant programs
opted to place patients like Nicholas, who did not have
a fully matched donor, in medical limbo, waiting and
hoping to find a bone marrow donor through an unrelated registry. When they went to another well-known
children’s hospital for a second opinion, the doctor
there advised against the half-matched transplant.
Caroline and Llew decided that the donor options
identified through the registry presented risks they
were not willing to take. Dr. Lederman reminded them
that prednisone was not a long-term solution. They
realized that time was not in their favor, and they had
a difficult decision to make. If they were going to proceed with the transplant, it was best to do it while
Nicholas was in good health. He had gone for nearly a
year without infections, but the Browns also knew,
based on the past four years, that that could change at
any moment. They had learned to be on guard, always
monitoring for signs of the next infectious assault
against their young son. Caroline had developed a
nervous habit of regularly touching Nicholas’ head and
neck to see if he had a fever. She had many thermometers
in her house and carried one with her at all times.
“This was our life,” she says. “Fevers of 104 and 105
were typical for us.”
They had to make a decision. The other hospital had
done impressive work in CGD, but they hadn’t offered
a better plan. Johns Hopkins had the bone marrow
transplant expertise, and it offered the best chance for
a cure. “It was very scary,” says Caroline. “I wanted the
other experts to reassure us, to support the halfmatched transplant. It would have made our decision
so much easier.”
Dr. Symons and team perform about 50 pediatric
bone marrow transplants a year, and about 60 percent
of them are with half-matching donors, and more
than one-third are for noncancer diseases like CGD.
The improvement in safety that allows her to offer
transplants to patients who do not have a fully matching
donor has led to this tremendous growth in the program. Transplant related toxicities and complications
and rates of graft rejection are the same for patients
using half-matched donors as they are for patients
with fully matched donors. Despite these convincing
data and successful results, Dr. Symons is not
surprised that there is still reluctance.
“Anytime you are trying to change standard of care,
it’s difficult,” explains Dr. Symons. “At the Kimmel
Cancer Center we are always working to advance and
improve care. When experts at other institutions have
been doing it one way for 30 years, it can be difficult
to get them to do things differently.”
Dr. Lederman felt strongly that the bone marrow
transplant was the best option. Nicholas had suffered
many infections, significant and prolonged inflammation, and had granulomas in his bone marrow. All of
these assaults put him at higher risk for serious longterm problems.
“AT TH E KI M M E L CANCE R CE NTE R WE AR E ALWAYS WOR KI NG TO ADVANCE
AN D I M PROVE CAR E. WH E N EXPE RTS AT OTH E R I NSTITUTIONS HAVE B E E N
DOI NG IT ON E WAY FOR 30 YEAR S, IT CAN B E DI FFICU LT TO G ET TH E M TO
DO TH I NGS DI FFE R E NTLY.”
T H E S I D N E Y K I M M E L C O M P R E H E N S I V E C A N C E R C E N T E R AT J O H N S H O P K I N S
“I want parents to feel good about their decisions,
whatever they are. I want to help them decide and to
be comfortable and confident that they made the right
choice, says Dr. Symons.” She thrives on medically
complicated cases and the ability to meld science
with clinical care. “It is so gratifying to see a patient
like Nicholas through this complicated therapy and
offer him a new life, free of illness and medications,”
says Dr. Symons.
By the end of the conversation, Llew grew surer of
the decision and Caroline’s reservations subsided.
They decided that a half-matched transplant was the
right thing for Nicholas. Llew would be the bone marrow
donor. Before the transplant, the Make-A-Wish
Foundation sent the family on a much-needed
vacation to Disney World. Any illness is stressful for a
family. One that continues relentlessly for nearly five
years and limits almost every normal, day-to-day
activity is even more trying. The Browns desperately
needed this escape.
I N D E P E N D E N C E DAY
On May 30, 2013, Nicholas was admitted to the hospital
to begin the preparative drug and radiation treatment
to destroy his diseased immune system. On June 7,
Caroline anxiously went from Llew’s bedside—as he
underwent a surgical procedure to have bone marrow
extracted from his hipbones to be given to his son—to
Nicholas’ bedside. If all went as expected, Llew’s donated
marrow would become Nicholas’ bone marrow. Llew’s
healthy immune system would become Nicholas’
immune system, and he would no longer have CGD.
“I remember being deeply sad and fearful the day of
his admission,” says Caroline. “One of the most comforting things was the way the nurses spoke to me. They
were always speaking in a future tense—when Nicholas
feels better, when he gets back on his feet, when he gets
discharged. They always spoke as if he would be fine. I
clung to every reference like that.” At this point, with all
Caroline and Llew had gone through with Nicholas,
they needed to hear that he was going to be OK.
With Llew recovering from the procedure to
harvest his bone marrow, Caroline sat with Dr.
Symons at Nicholas’ bedside. She watched as the bag
of Llew’s bone marrow was hung on an IV pole and
began to drip into Nicholas’ vein.
“I stared at the bag, reading Llew’s name on it,”
says Caroline. “That’s it. It’s just an IV.” With all of the
science that went into developing the treatment and
the promise it offered to so many patients, the procedure was surprisingly basic. Yet, the years of repeated
infections, hospitalizations, old treatments and new
treatments had come down to this one moment.
Caroline watched as each drop of Llew’s bone marrow
flowed from the bag into Nicholas’ vein. These magical cells instinctively knew where to go and what to
do and they carried with them a mother’s and father’s
hopes and dreams for their son. They were the medicine
that could cure him.
The transplant went well. There were side effects,
some of which caused severe pain for Nicholas. Each
medication used to combat the pain came with its own
set of side effects. Nicholas did not get GVHD or any
post transplant infections, for that matter. Dr. Symons
said he was a case study for how a bone marrow transplant should go.
“The coordination of care and the kindness and
dedication of the doctors and nurses was impressive,”
says Llew. He was struck by the professionalism and
attention to detail he witnessed amid the most complicated treatment plans he could imagine. “It seemed
that every patient on the floor was on at least five
different medications and had two IV poles,” says
Llew. “The complexity of care they were managing in
each room was incredible. Every single nurse was well
trained, and the continuity of care was flawless.”
JUST SUPPOSE
THESE MAGICAL CELLS INSTINCTIVELY KNEW WHERE TO GO AND WHAT TO DO
AND THEY CARRIED WITH THEM A MOTHER’S AND FATHER’S HOPES AND DREAMS
FOR THEIR SON. THEY WERE THE MEDICINE THAT COULD CURE HIM.
The next several weeks were exhausting for Caroline
and Llew as they tried to balance Nicholas’ needs, the
needs of their other children, and the demands of their
jobs. They became experts at tag team parenting as
Nicholas recovered—switching off so that one of them
would be at home to care for their other children while
the other was at the hospital with Nicholas.
Caroline worried that she would miss important
information when she wasn’t at the hospital, but the
nurses made sure she was kept abreast of all of
Nicholas’ lab results, explaining what they meant, and
working through his pain and other medications with
her. On one occasion, she fell asleep in a chair by
Nicholas’ bed while waiting to receive news about his
blood counts. The nurse who received the results was
about to go off shift, but when Caroline awoke, she
found a piece of paper with the results pinned to her
shirt. “This was the level of caring and attention to
every detail that we experienced each day,” says
Caroline. “We realized only the very best worked here.”
Nicholas was well enough to be discharged from
the hospital on July 3, 2013. It seemed no coincidence
that the end of his hospital stay was the eve of
Independence Day. This was, in so many ways, their
own personal independence day. Nicholas still had
some recovery ahead of him, but his test results
showed that his bone marrow was 100 percent his
father’s, which meant it was 100 percent CGD free.
Nicholas was cured. Nicholas could finally just be
Nicholas. He was free of the disease that had overshadowed his entire life and the last five years of the
Brown family’s lives.
As time went by, one by one, Nicholas’ medication
list grew shorter and shorter. For the first time, he was
able to go to school just like his sister and brother.
They got sick with sore throats, colds, stomach bugs—
normal childhood illness—but Nicholas never got
sick. The child who spent his first five years battling
one infection after another was now the healthiest
one in the family.
By the next summer, he was off of every medication. Caroline and Llew once needed spread sheets to
coordinate all of his medications, and now there were
none. To celebrate, the family took a vacation to the
beach and, for the first time, Nicholas could play in
the water and on the beach. “Finally, he could just be
a normal child,” says Caroline. For the first time in
Nicholas’ life they could relax. “I find myself smiling
from ear to ear,” she says. “I am so grateful to
Dr. Lederman, Dr. Symons, the nurses, and every single
person at Johns Hopkins who made a brighter future
possible for my son.”
Caroline and Llew understand better than anyone
the power of research to transform hopelessness into
hope. “I’ve worked at Johns Hopkins for a long time,
and I have listened to amazing stories about innovative research. Now, I understand firsthand the truly
profound impact it can have on a life,” says Caroline.
“Llew and I think often about the people—who we
will never know—that supported the research that
made this treatment possible for our son. Their
generosity led to the greatest gift our family could
ever receive. It saved Nicholas. When we think about
that, it is the most humbling thing.”
WORKING TOGETHER TO SAVE CHILDREN
Just Suppose
Nicholas’ story illustrates the power of research and
how discoveries at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer
Center are not only curing cancer but also are providing
cures for other terrible childhood diseases.
Today, half-matched bone marrow transplants
are used to treat and cure children with cancer, sickle
cell anemia and immune diseases, and to prevent
organ rejection in solid organ transplants. The Johns
Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center is the only place
doing this work.
Thank you for your help in advancing research like
this and working toward our shared goal that every
child’s story has a happy ending.
T H E S I D N E Y K I M M E L C O M P R E H E N S I V E C A N C E R C E N T E R AT J O H N S H O P K I N S
“LLEW AN D I TH I N K OFTE N AB OUT TH E PEOPLE—
WHO WE WI LL N EVE R KNOW—THAT SU PPORTE D
TH E R ESEARCH THAT MADE TH IS TR EATM E NT
POSSI B LE FOR OU R SON. TH E I R G E N E ROSITY LE D
TO TH E G R EATEST G I FT OU R FAM I LY COU LD EVE R
R ECE IVE. IT SAVE D N ICHOLAS. WH E N WE TH I N K
AB OUT THAT, IT IS TH E MOST H U M B LI NG TH I NG.”
—CAROLI N E LAG U E R R E-B ROWN
J UST SU PPOS E
For more information on how you
can support Johns Hopkins
Pediatric Oncology, contact:
Stephanie Davis
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center
Development office
750 East Pratt Street
17th Floor
Baltimore, Maryland 21202
[email protected]
www.hopkinscancer.org/kidscancer