Emily Whitehead was five years old when she had just completed her annual checkup. She was then declared healthy.
But a week later, Emily’s mom, Kari, noticed that her daughter had bruises on odd parts of her body, including her back and stomach. She was experiencing unbearable pain and her gums began to bleed.
Kari, 46, discovered that these symptoms were typical signs of leukemia when she Googled them. Tom, her husband, and Kari took Emily to see the doctor the following day.
A few days later, the little girl received a diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic lukemia. Emily was recommended 26-month chemotherapy by Penn State Health Hershey, Pennsylvania.
The first few weeks were particularly difficult. Emily had dangerously high fevers, and almost lost both her legs to a rare infection.
Emily recovered despite all the difficulties a month later.
“We Emily and Dr. Grupphad a rough start, but the doctors said when chemotherapy works for these kids, it works,” Kari said.
In October 2011, Emily, then 6 years old, suffered a relapse and was given a 30% chance to survive.
“The news was more devastating to us than her original diagnosis,” Tom said. “I told Emily that if I had to crawl to the North Pole, I would, if that’s what it took to find someone to fix her.”
Tom took Emily to get a second opinion at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).
She spent the next four months in hospital preparing for a bone-marrow transplant in February 2012. In the meantime, Tom and Kari started calling experts to discuss other treatment options.
“I was just praying like, ‘God, if you’re up there, we need help right now.’ I was kind of asleep but not really and I suddenly saw Emily at CHOP. And I could see her getting better,” Tom recalled.
Tom, a lead lineman at a power company, had clear visions of Emily’s recovery, which he retold in his book, “Praying for Emily: The Faith, Science, and Miracles that Saved Our Daughter.”
Tom saw those visions and knew Emily would be fine.
Emily, now 17, recalled that her parents tried to make Emily smile every day. She said that’s “something really special” that she remembers.
Towards the end of February, Emily’s condition had regressed to the point that she was no longer eligible for a transplant. The family was left with no other options.
CHOP had good news for them. Emily’s doctors said that after a year of completing the required paperwork, the FDA and other committees had approved CHOP’s Phase 1 clinical trial for CAR T-Cell therapy in kids.
Emily was the first pediatric patient.
Although there were many risks involved, it was better than going home to hospice and watching Emily die.
And consistent with Tom’s visions, the CAR T-cell therapy worked. 23 days after Emily began treatment, a bone-marrow test confirmed that Emily was now cancer-free.
“It was a total shock after everything we she’d been through,” said Kari. “We were just so excited.”
Dr. Stephan Grupp, Emily’s doctor and director of the Susan S. and Stephen P. Kelly Center for Cancer Immunotherapy, said that Emily was not expected to make it. Amazingly, however, all the cancer disappeared.
CAR T-cell therapy involves taking T-cells—a white blood cell critical in fighting infections—from the body, and genetically engineering them in a laboratory over three weeks to teach them how to fight the cancer. Then, the trained T-cells will be put back in the patient’s blood.
Over 15,000 people have been treated for blood cancer since Emily.
“You could argue this is a brand-new field of medicine. Now, we just have to find the right recipe to treat all types of cancer,” said Dr. Grupp.
Ever since, Emily, who recently got her driver’s license, has remained cancer-free. In May, she turned 17 and was officially declared cured. She celebrates 10 consecutive years of being cancer-free.
Their family founded the Emily Whitehead Foundation in 2015 to raise awareness and help others affected by childhood cancer.
“Spreading awareness about treatments like CAR T-cell is really important to me,” Emily said. “It’s a miracle I’m alive — and I am so grateful.”
Click the video below to see Emily, Kari and Tom discussing this amazing story about healing.
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