“We would really like it to be useful, for it not to be the exception”

This is a first that raises hope and opens up new questions. Lucas, a 12-year-old Belgian, living on the outskirts of Brussels, is the first child in the world, to the knowledge of doctors, to survive a cancer previously considered incurable, reports Le Parisien.

On vacation at the campsite when he was only 6 years old, the nightmare began. Lucas then feels discomfort in his nose, difficulty urinating… The result is: he has an infiltrating glioma of the brain stem, a rare tumor attacking the brain (only several dozen children in the world have it). victims). Hope then seems very slim: “The doctors were clear. They gave us the statistics, which were not good, not good at all…” declares Cédric, the child’s father.

Present at his side, his parents, Cédric and Olesja, decide to fight. Rather than going to Mexico or the United States, where some hope to find the miracle solution, they ultimately opt for the Gustave-Roussy hospital in Villejuif, in the Paris suburbs, where the Biomede clinical trial is taking place. Eight other patients in the program did not experience a relapse after their diagnosis. Hope is reborn a little.

Stopping treatment

The 12-year-old Belgian is fighting. 30 radiotherapy sessions are necessary. With them comes serious consequences: extensive treatment, vomiting, etc. Finally, the preadolescent’s body gradually eliminates the disease. For five years, the signals have been positive. So the question arises: should Lucas continue to take his medication every day?

“I didn’t know when to stop, or how, because there was no reference in the world,” explains Doctor Jacques Grill, who is following the child. He wants to prescribe one last box to Lucas. The young man from Brussels replied that he already had one in advance. “It was impossible, I delivered exactly the number of tablets needed between two consultations. I understood that he was no longer taking it…”, notes the doctor to Le Parisien.

Miracle

The miracle therefore seems to have occurred. If parents and doctors do not dare to say the word “cure”, Lucas has not experienced a single relapse. Stopping the treatment only confirmed his remission, which cannot be explained by the medications: “We think that Lucas had a particular form of the disease. We must understand what and why to succeed in medically reproducing in other patients what happened naturally with him. That would be great,” says Jacques Grill.

Now, new questions are being asked and hope is being reborn for all patients suffering from this serious tumor. “Lucas proves to us that, even when the door is very small, you have to put your foot in,” notes the doctor. The child’s father, Cédric, adds: “We would really like it to be useful, that Lucas is not the exception.”