Edward Malin Edward Malin (Ed-Dog)

Edward has been battling Leukemia since he was 3.  At 14, he relapsed again (5th time with leukemia).  He is currently a patient at Sloan Kettering and has taken a new medication. 
Click "Read My Story" to learn more about this new medication.


I have set Edward's Caringbridge to public.  Anyone is welcome to read about Edward's journey.  Ted

Edward has relapsed again.  The story below is about our start here at Sloan Kettering.  The targeted medicine described in the below story made Ed's leukemia go away for a year and a half; but is has returned.  Now he will likely take another targeted treatment as part of another study.  Read the journals for the most recent updates on where we are...

***********Dec of 2012 **********Just when it seemed like the doctors were running out of options for Ed, a new option was developed.  Unlike traditional Chemo-therapies that saturate the body with medication damaging good and bad cells, this is an amazing medication that targets cancer on a cell-by-cell basis.  It looks like this medication will revolutionize leukemia treatment in the near future (as well as some other cancers).  I asked the main doctor how similar the side-effects will be to the other treatments Ed has been through; she said that while kids are on this medication they look and feel better than they have in years.  So far, that has been our experience too! 


This medication is not yet FDA approved- so Edward is part of the study.  This is phase 2 of the study.  Phase 1 had excellent results.  Everyone seems very positive about this medicine.  We're all pleased that Edward is part of this study.  And of course Edward is pumped. 



Edward and I have always been interested in technological advances generally. I remember telling him that this type of medicine would be available one day.  So when Dr Gilio told us about this new medicine, Edward yelled, "FINALLY!!"


The drug Ed is on is called Blinatumomab. Basically it is designed to connect to two things: the patient's own immune system (T-Cells) and the Leukemia Cells.  By bringing them together the drug allows the patients immune system to attack the cancer.  


For a more technical explanation, here are two clips i copied from WikiPedia...


Bi-specific T-cell engagers (BiTEs) are a class of artificial bispecific monoclonal antibodies that are investigated for the use as anti-cancer drugs. They direct a host's immune system, more specifically the T cells' cytotoxic activity, against cancer cells...  Blinatumomab enables a patient's T cells to recognize malign B cells. The drug works by linking these two cell types and activating the T cell to exert cytotoxic activity on the target cell.