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April 23: Historic transplant for boy with HIV, leukemia

U doctors hope to make history with a type of cell transplant on a boy with HIV and leukemia.

By Maura Lerner

July 12, 2013 at 11:19PM

A child who was born with the HIV virus, received an experimental treatment in his hospital room at the University of Minnesota. It may look like he’s simply getting fluids from an IV bag, but he’s getting cord blood cells from a donor with a genetic resistance to HIV infection. Doctors hope that the blood cell transplant will cure the boy of HIV and a rare form of leukemia which he recently developed. Dr. John Wagner is a specialist in children‚Äôs cancer who is leading the medical team (top, right). Some others on the team include Dr. Michael Verneris (right, second from tip), a transplant specialist and Dr. Timothy Schacker, an AIDS expert at the U of M (not pictured) . ] / April 23, 2013 / 12:00 PM Minneapolis, MN ‚Äì BACKGROUND INFORMATION- RN Alli Bogart is at bedside. (Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

If his doctors are right, the boy with HIV and leukemia may have made history on Tuesday.

But chances are, the boy himself will remember it as the day he spoke with Julius Erving.

Right around noon, Dr. John Wagner gave his young patient an autographed basketball from the legendary hall-of-famer, "Dr. J," just before beginning an experimental procedure at the University of Minnesota's Amplatz Children's Hospital. The boy didn't know there was more to come.

The child — who has not been publicly identified — could become the second person in the world cured of both deadly illnesses by an extraordinary type of cell transplant.

Wagner, a specialist in children's cancer, had been working with his team for weeks to prepare for the risky — and potentially historic — procedure, a type of bone-marrow transplant. The procedure involves injecting the child with blood cells that are genetically resistant to HIV, the virus the causes AIDS.

Less than 1 percent of the population is born with this genetic resistance, according to Dr. Michael Verneris, a transplant specialist at the university. The hope is that the transplant will rid the boy's body of both the leukemia and HIV and help fight off any recurrence.

"It could really be a total game-changer," said Verneris.

But the big surprise came as the boy, a basketball fanatic, was starting to fall asleep after his transplant. "Can you try to stay awake for a little longer?" Wagner said. "Because Julius Erving is going to call."

A few minutes later, Wagner held his iPhone by the boy's ear. "JULIUS!" the boy said.

Wagner, who knew Erving, just smiled.

'One day at a time'

Nurses and doctors crowded into the boy's hospital room shortly before the infusion on Tuesday, bearing gifts and balloons. "Happy BMT [bone-marrow transplant] Day!" someone wrote on the whiteboard in his room.

The boy giddily unwrapped his presents — a Nerf basketball set and football — as a nurse draped a plastic bag with red liquid on an overhead rack.

The infusion itself took only about 10 minutes. The boy hugged Erving's basketball with one arm until the IV bag with his new cells was empty.

During their phone call afterward, the boy told Erving he'd like to play pro basketball. "Let's take it one day at a time," Erving replied. "I'll be praying for you."

The boy's mother released a statement Tuesday, saying: "This is the beginning of a new chance for me to have a healthier kid. I am thankful for the University of Minnesota giving him the chance to live."

His doctors say the boy, who is from out of state, will remain hospitalized for about four weeks because of the risk of complications, and won't be able to go home for at least three months.

Tuesday's procedure is only the second time that doctors have attempted this type of treatment. In 2007, a man named Timothy Ray Brown had a similar transplant in Germany to treat both leukemia and HIV.

Tests show he is free of both diseases six years later, and on Tuesday, he also called the boy to wish him well.

"As the first person in the world to be cured of HIV," Brown, who lives in Las Vegas, told the boy, "I'm hoping that you'll be the second."

Maura Lerner • 612-673-7384

Dr. John Wagner, left, watched as Dr. Michael Verneris playfully balanced a Julius Erving-autographed basketball on his finger after the cell transplant on a basketball-loving boy with HIV and leukemia. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

A lab assistant delivered the blood cells to the University of Minnesota’s Amplatz Children’s Hospital for the procedure. Said the boy’s mother in a statement Tuesday: “This is the beginning of a new chance for me to have a healthier kid. I am thankful for the University of Minnesota giving him the chance to live.” (The Minnesota Star Tribune)