Leroy’s Story: ‘God and My Medical Team Kept Me Strong’

Leroy Brown is a man of faith.

But his faith was sorely tested when at age 38 his doctors diagnosed a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system.

“Even before I heard my test results,” Brown said, “I knew it was cancer. If this was God’s plan for me, then with God’s help and my family’s support, I was ready to face it.”

But the path to recovery stretched longer than Brown first imagined. Despite multiple cycles of chemotherapy followed by a bone marrow stem cell transplant, the cancer kept coming back.

By 2022, the cancer had transformed into a more aggressive blood cell cancer called High Grade B-cell lymphoma, relentlessly targeting his body’s own natural defenses.

That is when his doctors at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute suggested a new course of action.

Brown was eligible for CAR-T cell therapy, a novel treatment designed to supercharge his body’s natural defenders to fight back against his cancer.

Now, after a year in remission, Brown’s cancer may have met its match.

“Because of the refractory nature of Leroy’s cancer, we determined that his best option for treatment would be CAR-T cell therapy,” said hematologist/oncologist Khadega Abuelgasim, M.D. “Leroy’s physical condition and his powerful faith and determination to overcome his disease made him a good candidate for this promising new treatment.”

Chimeric antigen, or CAR-T cell therapy, is offered in Delaware only at ChristianaCare.

The program is one of the few select centers in our region recognized for quality by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy and certified to treat adult patients with B cell lymphomas using FDA-approved, CAR-T cell therapy. The treatment is also approved to treat leukemia in children and young adults under 25.

CAR-T cell therapy is a highly personalized form of cancer medicine. To prepare for treatment, Brown’s own disease-fighting white blood cells, including T cells, were filtered from his bloodstream and sent to the lab for reprogramming.

Afterwards, Brown received an infusion of these modified T cells in a process similar to a blood transfusion.

The lab genetically modified his T cells to sprout new surface tools to improve their ability to recognize, latch on to and destroy other cells including the cancer cells. Specifically, his T cells where trained to target a type of protein on the B cell surface.

Because the reprogrammed T cells continue to multiply in the body after treatment, CAR-T cell therapy is considered a “living drug” that could keep fighting cancer indefinitely.

“Our patients benefit from life-saving stem cell transplants without having to travel far from home.” – Khadega Abuelgasim, M.D.

The ChristianaCare Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Program offers the latest personalized and targeted cellular therapies that are changing treatment practices for blood disorders like leukemia, and lymphoma as well as inherited diseases like sickle cell anemia.

“Our patients benefit from the latest FDA-approved drugs and life-saving stem cell transplants without having to travel far from home to receive treatment,” said Abuelgasim.

Click here for more on expert cancer treatment at ChristianaCare.

Although most CAR-T cell therapy patients do not experience the side effects normally associated with chemotherapy, such as nausea, vomiting or hair loss, CAR-T cell therapy is not without risks. A common side effect, which Brown also experienced, is cytokine release syndrome. This is an inflammatory condition that causes flu-like symptoms that may be mild or severe.

The transplant team responded quickly to manage Brown’s symptoms while he received expert care on the Bone Marrow Transplant and Oncology Unit at Christiana Hospital.

“For a time, I thought I couldn’t face another round of therapy, but God and my medical team kept me strong,” Brown said. “I trusted them. They believe in their medicine, and I believe in them.”