In December 2024, Colin Campbell came down with a sore throat.
“We didn’t think anything of it,” says Tim Campbell, Colin’s father. “Then his got to a point where he could barely swallow.”
After visiting a doctor, Colin was sent to the emergency room. He tested positive for strep throat but negative for mononucleosis. Instead, he got a much more serious diagnosis: B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
“Everyone was kind of floored,” Tim says. “The last thing in the world you’re expecting when you go in for a sore throat is to hear that you have cancer.”
Colin, who is a wrestler and plays football and lacrosse, was shocked. “It was really hard, because I was in the middle of wrestling season,” he says. “It was very scary.”
Because Colin was 12 when he was diagnosed, his leukemia was considered high-risk. He saw Dr. Vanisha Patel, a pediatric hematologist-oncologist at Akron Children’s, who included blinatumomab — a new immunotherapy treatment for certain types of leukemia — in his treatment plan.
“Before getting this blinatumomab, his overall survival and chance of being cured from leukemia would have only been 87 percent. Because this clinical trial studied this ... his overall survival is going to be over 96 percent,” Patel says.
Colin’s blinatumomab is administered alongside standard chemotherapy. While chemotherapy affects noncancerous cells in the body, creating long-term side effects, blinatumomab directs immune cells, called T cells, to target a specific antibody carried in leukemia cells — CD19.
“When you have somebody who’s getting chemotherapy, they’re needing blood transfusions, they’re having lots of nausea and vomiting, they’re having a lot of side effects,” says Patel. “Blinatumomab — since it is not targeting your other cells and is really only trying to find those leukemia cells — the side effects are very, very mild, if you even have side effects.”
Based on diagnostic information, Akron Children’s patients with high-risk B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia may be eligible for blinatumomab.
“It’s very rewarding,” says Patel, “even on some of our hardest days, to be able to know that we can offer this to our patients and know that they’re going to have a really good chance of survival.”
Colin recently completed one month of immunotherapy. He will need to complete a total of two months within his 2 1/2 years of treatment. On blinatumomab —administered through a backpack— he was able to attend school, exercise and help out his coaches. Now 13, Colin can’t wait to get back into sports once his treatment is complete.
“I’ve hung out with a couple of my buddies,” Colin says. “That really boosts me up.”
His dad notices a change. “His everyday demeanor is just more normalized. His energy levels are higher, his mood ... physically, he feels better,” Tim says. “You can see it in him — a little pep in his step.”
Erin Gulling
Erin Gulling
Erin Gulling
