Deceased donor stem cells save teen’s life

By Maureen Gilmer, Riley Children’s Health senior writer, mgilmer1@iuhealth.org

Fourteen-year-old Noah Britt doesn’t much like the spotlight, but the Bloomington youth can’t escape it – and for good reason.

Noah is the face of a revolutionary development in stem cell transplant science. He is the first pediatric patient in the world to successfully be treated with a bone marrow transplant using the stem cells of a deceased donor.

It was chronic nose bleeds that first led the teen and his parents to make repeated trips to the emergency room before they got the devastating diagnosis shortly after his birthday last August – acute myeloid leukemia.

The soft-spoken teen, the youngest of four brothers, went through months of chemotherapy before he was referred to Riley Hospital for Children when it was determined a stem cell transplant was the best option to kick the cancer.

The first attempt this past January, using living donor cells through the National Marrow Donor Program, failed, but Dr. Jodi Skiles refused to give up.

“We were facing a race against time,” said Dr. Skiles, medical director of Riley’s pediatric stem cell transplant program.

Without a new donor quickly, Noah would not survive.

Enter the HOPE program, which offers expanded access as part of a clinical trial to deceased donor cryopreserved bone marrow for patients ages 12 to 80 with urgent transplant needs who do not have a suitable living donor match.

Noah’s second transplant, using deceased donor cells, occurred in late February, and within a few weeks it was evident that the cells had engrafted.

“We didn’t want to get too excited because the first transplant failed,” said Noah’s mom, Ashley McKinney. “In the back of our minds, we knew that something could still happen, but now I’m really excited. He has done amazing.”

“It’s pretty cool to be the first pediatric patient,” Noah said recently during a clinic visit.

“His story is a huge advancement for science,” Dr. Skiles said, a breakthrough that could dramatically expand access to life-saving treatment for children with aggressive blood cancers.

She can breathe easier now, but acknowledges that it’s been a stressful few months. She holds these patients close to her heart, something McKinney realized very quickly.

“She is amazing. She is very supportive and doesn’t do this just as a job. She cares and worries with us,” McKinney said.

Being able to pivot quickly with donor cells recovered from previously consented deceased organ donors was key, allowing Riley’s team to act in days instead of months.

“This treatment has the potential to dramatically expand access to transplant for children who previously had few or no remaining treatment options, giving us a way to close critical gaps in care and offer hope to families facing impossible circumstances,” Dr. Skiles said.

To date, 28 patients worldwide have received transplants using the technology. Of those, Noah is the only pediatric patient.

“The fact that he survived and is thriving and got to be outpatient relatively quickly is shocking,” Dr. Skiles said, and it could bode well for other patients.

Noah is three months out from transplant, so he is still early in his journey, but he said he feels pretty good now. He will continue to be followed by Dr. Skiles and the team in the hematology-oncology clinic for one year post-transplant.

He misses the things he can’t do for now, like swimming and playing football, but doesn’t miss in-person school and says he plans to continue online classes as a high school freshman in the fall.

That’s OK with his mom, who is just happy to have her son back.

“Through this whole transplant, he’s done amazing.”

Photos submitted and by Mike Dickbernd, IU Health visual journalist, mdickbernd@iuhealth.org