Dade Cannon pictured making cookies while at NIH in Maryland. (photo via Facebook)
Dade Cannon is now 13 years old. The Great Bend teenager has fought cancer for well over half of his life. Dade’s battle against Leukemia is pushing past eight and a half years. Dade is currently in Bethesda, Maryland, just northwest of Washington D.C., at National Institutes of Health (NIH) after going into his fourth relapse from the disease.
Dade’s mother, Christy Huslig, says Dade underwent a new process to an elaborate clinical trial with CD22 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy.
Christy Huslig Audio
After the cells are harvested and cleaned for only the T-cell, physicians will attach the receptor (CAR) to the cells to attack the proteins on Dade’s cancer cells. Huslig says NIH harvested the cells and now are waiting to see if the procedure worked. The newly developed procedure is not a cure for Dade’s leukemia, but a chance to get him back into remission.
Christy Huslig Audio
Huslig says the goal is to get Dade into remission and then he will need to receive a bone marrow transplant at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. When Huslig and Dade left Maryland a few weeks ago after the testing, Dade’s leukemia was at eight percent in his bone marrow. When they returned to NIH, the disease increased to 85 percent.
Dade is a Kans for Kids Fighting Cancer recipient. The non-profit organization helps families in Barton and Russell counties that have children fighting cancer.