Meet Nick
“Being diagnosed with cancer at the age of 4 years old meant that some of my earliest and first memories involved hospital stays and plenty of doctor visits.”
Nick Wilkins spent nearly 12 years as a youth facing a form of leukemia called acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). “A couple of weeks into chemotherapy, I started crying because I realized I could die from this,” he says. Nevertheless, Nick bravely faced his cancer despite experiencing setbacks: “After relapsing twice at the ages of 11 and 14 years old, I missed my entire 6th grade year and half of my freshman year in high school. It was pretty frustrating not being able to be at school or around other people, especially all my friends.”
After additional chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant failed to provide a long-term solution, Nick needed another option: “During my second relapse, after about a month of different chemotherapies and drugs, the doctors discovered that the cancer cells had become resistant, which basically meant all those treatment had a minimal to no effect at all.” In 2013, Nick and his family finally received the encouraging news they needed: He qualified for a CAR-T cell therapy clinical trial led by the The St. Baldrick’s Foundation-SU2C Pediatric Cancer Dream Team.
Stand Up To Cancer’s success is measured in the months, years, and lifetimes given back to people with cancer and their families.
“The trial was, realistically, one of the last options left,” Nick explains. “After meeting with the doctors who explained the entire process, I was hopeful and optimistic – and not just for my own sake. The possibility that it could be an effective treatment for those affected by the same cancer I had was an important factor as well.” Two months after Nick began the clinical trial, he was cancer-free. Moreover, the work of the St. Baldrick’s Foundation-SU2C Pediatric Cancer Dream Team contributed to the first CAR-T cell therapy approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Thanks to this initial approval, CAR-T therapies – which are less toxic than standard treatments – are now used widely for a number of cancers.
Today, Nick is still in remission and has graduated from college. “If it wasn’t for cancer research, I probably wouldn’t be alive today,” he says. “I think my experiences should show everyone that it’s extremely important to spread awareness about the need for cancer research to as many people as possible. If it weren’t for organizations like Stand Up To Cancer that dedicate their efforts towards this cause, then who knows if I would even have been able to share my story with others.”
Our Mission
Stand Up To Cancer raises awareness and funds research to detect and treat cancers with the aspiration to cure all patients. Find out how you can get involved.
