14 DAY TRIAL // Noah Shin is a sweet three-year-old boy from San Jose, California, who would charm any person with his adorable smile and joyfulness. But sadly, this cute little fellow's life is in danger, as last year, he was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare cancer of the developing nerve cells.
After tumors have spread all over his body, chemotherapy was no longer strong and effective enough to treat him, so doctors decided to try a more extreme treatment to save his life. They turned him radioactive to increase his chances of survival.
According to Daily Mail, this special therapy, called MIGB, is applied at only one hospital in California, namely the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in San Francisco.
The deadly form of cancer Noah suffers from is rare in the general population, but it’s the most common cancer in children younger than 1 year of age. Specialists say half the cases of neuroblastoma are metastatic, which means it spreads to the entire body, just as in Noah's case.
The daring new therapy uses an IV drug to administer radiation. It is administered to the patient every two hours over the course of one day, and it reportedly attacks only the cancerous nerve cells.
“It’s a way of delivering high energy radiation to tumors not just in one place but to tumors everywhere in the entire body,” UCSF Pediatric oncologist Doctor Clay Gustafson explains.
“I hope that we can get his disease under control with this therapy. That we can shrink his tumors,” he adds.
But given that the new therapy also turns Noah radioactive, the boy must be kept isolated in a lead-shielded room for days to protect others around him. Moreover, doctors administer him sedatives to keep him calm.
Noah's mother, Cathy Shin, said the sedative has also helped her. “It’s helping him relax and it then helps me to relax because now I know he’s not a danger to anybody,” she said.
On the other hand, Dr. Gustafson is very hopeful that the new treatment is holding the promise to Noah's recovery. He explained that if they manage to shrink the tumors in Noah's body, they will be able to attempt a bone marrow transplant, which could save the little boy's life.
According to specialists, MIGB is a molecule that is readily absorbed by neuroblastoma cells, and given that it includes radioactive iodine, the therapy can be delivered directly to the tumor, no matter where it is in the body.