Lucas Jemeljanova, a 13-year-old boy from Belgium, has accomplished a remarkable feat by becoming the first person in the world to beat a deadly brain cancer known as diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), The Brighter Side reported.
Lucas was first diagnosed with the deadly illness at the age of six. DIPG is a very rare type of brain cancer that statistically kills 98% of patients within five years.
Children with the brain tumour would normally be expected to live nine to 12 months after diagnosis.
Lucas's road to recovery started when he participated in a clinical trial investigating the use of everolimus, a chemotherapeutic medication that is often used to treat brain, kidney, pancreatic, and other malignancies but has not been effectively used to treat DIPG.
Lucas responded well to the treatment, and he saw the tumour gradually go away.
After five years of declared remission, he has now been cancer-free for the last seven years.
At the Gustave Roussy cancer centre in Paris, his doctor Dr Jacques Grill, expressed happiness yet shock at his recovery, saying, "Lucas beat all the odds... his case offers real hope."
It remains unclear why Lucas recovered from the cancer, and scientists are now looking at how his case can help others with the illness in the future.
In the trial, seven other children survived years after their diagnosis, but only Lucas saw his tumour disappear.
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"I'm so grateful to doctors, nurses here for giving me hope," says 57-year-old patient Cheryl Mehrkar
