Five-year-old boy given ‘all-clear’ from leukaemia after US clinical trial

The family of a five-year-old boy have said they are ‘over the moon’ after doctors gave him the ‘all-clear’ from leukaemia.

Dillan Ramsey, from Manchester, was diagnosed with blood cancer back in May 2020 when he was just a one-year-old.

The little boy went through gruelling treatment of chemotherapy, radiation, cell therapy and a bone marrow transplant but relapsed four times as his leukaemia came back. 

In a last bid to help find a cure for Dillan, his mum Amy Ramsey set up a Go Fund Me page and made a plea for help from the public to raise the cash for a potentially life-saving clinical trial in the United States.

Clinical trails are one of the most expensive treatments in medicine.

Over £580,000 was donated to the fund to help save the youngster, including support from celebrity backers like actors Michelle Keegan, Brooke Vincent and Cath Tyldesley, as well as Manchester City and England footballer John Stones and designer Nadine Merabi.

Having raised enough to pay for the private treatment, Dillan and his family flew out to Washington DC in September where he began a new type of CAR T-cell therapy, currently only available in the States. 

Following several weeks of undergoing the treatment, Amy updated the fundraising page on Tuesday, November 14th, to say that Dillan had been given the ‘all-clear’ from doctors on a number of test results that had come back.

She said his blood, bone marrow and spinal fluid results had come back as ‘clear’.

Now back in the UK, Dillan will have to undergo another transplant from a donor who has already been found for him – a 27-year-old male from Germany.

Amy said that after that, the youngster will have to spend a further three months in hospital recovering before they ‘can go back to normal life for the first time ever’.

On the fundraising page, Amy wrote: “WHAT A DIFFERENCE A WEEK MAKES… RESULTS ARE IN!!!!! HES GOT THE ALL CLEAR!!!!

“Blood CLEAR. Bone Marrow CLEAR. Spinal Fluid CLEAR. It worked! He did it! We did it… We are flying home on Tuesday evening.

“Dillan will be going into transplant very soon when we get back, he will have just over a week at home before being admitted to start his conditioning chemo. The donor is a 27 year old Male from Germany, and he is donating bone marrow on the 6th of December.

“The hope is to reset his immune system twice with the Car and the Bone Marrow and is our best chance at cure. The transplant will be tough on him because of what his body has just been through, but he can do it!

“Please continue supporting us as we are going to have 3 months in hospital when we get home before we can go back to normal life for the first time ever. We are over the moon!

“Love Amy, Oguz, Dilly, Aiyla and Baby Leyla.”

To find out more and follow Dillan’s journey, or donate money to the Go Fund Me page, click HERE.