Phineas Sandi

Phineas was diagnosed with very high risk pre-B ALL (leukemia) at age 4 in March 2013. At diagnosis, his WBC count was somewhere in the neighborhood of 150,000.

After induction and consolidation treatment, Phineas did achieve morphologic remission but had persistent, chemo resistant MRD that put him at very high risk of treatment failure. He participated in the Phase 1 CAR 19 (Second Generation Chimeric Antigen Receptor) T Cell immunotherapy trials being conducted by the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD and he was able to achieve a complete MRD negative remission as a result.

Due to his risk status, lack of data on T Cell induced remission duration, family genetics and other factors, he received a bone marrow transplant from a 10/10 matched unrelated donor on Oct. 23, 2013 at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina Hospital, Chapel Hill.