r/MadeMeSmile • u/LazyGuy4U • 2d ago
Good News In 2025, 13-year-old boy named Lucas Jemeljanova became the first person ever to beat terminal brain cancer
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u/Slaidback 2d ago
Fuck yeah. Not this time cancer. This is what we should be waging war against. Not each other.
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u/DetroitInHuman 2d ago
Which variety?
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u/giskardwasright 2d ago
Per Google, Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma. He was in a drug trial in France and has been the first person to show complete remission even after stopping treatment. There have been other patient who far outlasted their initial prognosis, which was generally under a year, two at best, but the apparently needed lifelong treatment.
He was diagnosed at six and is now a healthy teenager.
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u/Difficult-Cricket541 2d ago
is the drug being sped to market? that is incredible results. how many people have it been tested on and how did they do?
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u/new_math 1d ago
They believe his tumor had an ultra rare mutation that made the drug significantly more effective at being absorbed by the mass.
Obviously this is awesome and interesting for research purposes and might lead to better therapies as they study how it worked in his situation but other kids on the drug haven't faired as well, and the particular cancer still is a death sentence.
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u/Lexxxapr00 1d ago
They believe his tumor had a rare mutation that made it more receptive to the medication in the trial he was given!
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u/DetroitInHuman 2d ago
Well. There's an emotion I didn't expect. I'm happy he lived but...there is a certain shade of...envy? Anger? Maybe resentment?
Huh.
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u/lady-earendil 2d ago
One of my friends lost her one year old last year to an aggressive brain cancer. So I understand you completely
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u/DetroitInHuman 2d ago
I honestly had come to peace with the inevitability of it all, but hearing that it's becoming survivable...yeah, that tore that wound open again.
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u/wunderwuzl 2d ago
My father shared an illness with his brother, he died and not even 2 years later his brother was cured, they succeeded in developing a treatment shortly after my father's death. While that isn't comparable to your loss, I also felt like you do now. I was happy for my uncle but it felt so unfair. Time wasn't on your and my family members side, it's incredibly unfortunate.
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u/Desi_Rosethorne 1d ago
My uncle passed when he was 19 in the 70s-80s from a rare brain condition. I don't remember exactly what it was but it was so rare that when he passed, my grandmother donated his brain so that they could study it to try and help others like him.
Now we come to find out that today in 2026 they could cure him, or at least manage its effects a lot better and not leave him bed bound for the rest of his life. It's a mixed bag. While I'm glad that they can do this for other people now, it also makes me sad because our family never really recovered after his death. He was a ray of sunshine, according to my mom, and loved to play pranks and practical jokes.
It's not exactly the same as your situation but I can understand. It sucks how things work out sometimes.
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u/chickens_for_laughs 1d ago
A relative of mine is a teacher and had a student with this cancer. He was diagnosed at the beginning of the school year and died before the year was done. He had the best hospitals and doctors.
This is an aggressive, relentless cancer that usually affects kids 6 to 10 years of age. It's every parent's nightmare.
I'm glad that DIPG is curable in some instances. That is how it started with childhood leukemia. When I worked pediatrics in the 70s, all children with leukemia died. Now, it's about a 95% cure rate.
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u/cocoagiant 1d ago
Hope it works out. Its a bit early to say it won't reccur though.
Even with standard treatment (resection + radiation + chemo) Glioblastoma can be in remission for 6 months to a year.
Amazing that he's made it 6+ years though. Median survival timeframe for glioblastoma is 14 months.
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u/Powerful_Tale_1319 1d ago
O knew he wasnt.treated.in the USA. They might loose money
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u/Mosquitobait2008 1d ago
Its has nothing to do with money? The drug in question was being developed in France, not the US.
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u/NS__eh 2d ago
IIRC from when I read this article a few weeeks ago about this it was found that he had a genetic mutation that allowed him to be more susceptible to the treatment. And that the next step is to identify and or replicate that mutation to make this treatment more viable to others.
Please correct me if I am wrong I can not find the article and am at work so don’t have the time to really look for it.
Please check and correct me if I am remembering wrong.
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u/new_math 1d ago
You are remembering mostly correct. I believe it was the tumor itself that had a very rare mutation which made it absorb the drug significantly better.
Great for research and science, but not a miracle cure for everyone with this type of brain tumor. Hopefully they learn a lot from this trial and can make better therapies.
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u/chef-rach-bitch 2d ago
Forgive me for being naive, but doesn't him surviving NOT make his cancer terminal?
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u/LadyCordeliaStuart 2d ago
Kid's the right age to crack up if he knew I immediately thought,
"Were you killed?"
"Sadly, yes. But I LIVED!!"
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u/hischild1111 2d ago
What it means is, a glioma is something people don’t survive. Why this story is important is because it shows a promising treatment to possibly prevent the extremely high mortality rate. Only 5% of patients survive past 5 years. Glioblastomas are especially aggressive. I had a friend that went through it in high school. It’s horrible
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u/Emanuele002 2d ago
I think that terminal means "it's very likely you will die". But if you think about it, in medicine especially, it's almost impossible to predict outcomes with absolute certainty. I think the term "terminal" refers to the probability of survival beyond either 1 year or 5 years, given one's condition. And that's never a binary variable, because uncertainty always exists.
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u/Teddypinktoes 2d ago
My thoughts too. Perhaps it should be "cancer that is usually terminal".
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u/fizgigs 2d ago
I mean sure but… point blank, this cancer is a death sentence. DIPG is so fatal that the 2 year survival rate is under 10%. His case is unusual because nobody has ever entered remission from this type of tumor, and it’s fatal in every other case. The trial saw a handful of other kids with slowed progression but nobody else had their tumor disappear, likely because he had a unique mutation in the pathway that was being targeted. This is a huge opportunity because if scientists can figure out how to mimic his mutation/its effects they could actually cure these kids
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u/thegypsyqueen 2d ago
Right? The headline is very un scientific and click baity. Like just say he was the first to survive this aggressive form of brain cancer diagnosed at such a high stage.
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u/Sipthepond 2d ago
This is fantastic news. I'm so happy for Lucas. Any type of progress is always good progress. This may be a pathway to helping cure other cancers.
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u/NoraMurphy927 1d ago
My friend’s daughter died of DIPG just before her fifth birthday. No parents should have to lose their child from this horrible disease. I was so happy to learn that he survived. It gives me hope that one day no parent or child will have to suffer.
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u/harriebeton 1d ago
The title has some mistakes. Terminal means you will die within six week guaranteed. Second he did not fight cancer, it was modern medicine that made the cancer in remission. Also being cured is common wording but the article is calling it remission. Remission means that there is no cancer detected. Not the same thing as cured.
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u/AzerynSylver 1d ago
How did he beat it in 2025 when all of the news articles I read about it were posted in February 2024?
Was his success in beating Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma published globally a year after actually being cured to make sure it does not return?
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u/ogodilovejudyalvarez 2d ago
Could I read just one "made me smile" story that doesn't mention death, cancer, depression, divorce, homelessness, abuse or animal cruelty? I swear this is the most miserable sub on reddit.
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u/oceans_between_us 2d ago
Calling Reddit miserable but you’re here complaining when we cure a case of cancer brooo get outta here
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u/Nico280gato 2d ago
I think you need to seek professional help. This is a story about curing cancer.
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u/FlyEquivalent2749 2d ago
lol, Right? I can already picture him delivering that line with a grin. Such a fighter!!
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u/AnxiousReader 1d ago
That is amazing!! I had a student pass away from this a few years ago. I think about him a lot and am sad that this wasn't available to him, but happy that it was available for this kid!
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u/LooseTraffic 1d ago
Imagine the extreme range of emotions his parents and family will have gone through! And it's ended up as a great story.
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u/AppointmentHot3276 1d ago
My dad died of this illness 11 years ago, it makes me teary that they’re finally figuring out treatment and it worked out for him!
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u/MuchachoSal 1d ago
This type of cancer is what took my 8-year old niece about 15 years ago. I'm so glad to see that we have made this much progress in beating it!
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u/stayathomeastronaut3 2d ago
Praise God! 🙌🏻 What wonderful news!
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u/alexshinsuke 2d ago
Praise god ? Damn he didn’t do shit besides giving the boy cancer… you should praise de doctors… dumb religion maniac folks
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u/stayathomeastronaut3 2d ago
I’m just grateful a child lived. However you explain that miracle, I’ll keep celebrating it.
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u/alexshinsuke 1d ago
The miracle was that the doctors gave everything to save the boy…. My blood boils when I see comments like this… people are so brainwashed by religion that they think that a fictional god exists… tell me religion maniac where was god when thousands or millions had cancer and died because of it ? Why did god have to give cancer to innocent children ?? Fuck cancer and fuck your god….
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u/misplacedbass 1d ago
Shut the fuck up. Praise science and medical researchers/doctors.
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u/stayathomeastronaut3 1d ago
I thank science, medicine, and the people who devoted their lives to healing. I also thank God. Both can coexist. Faith doesn’t deny medicine. Faith celebrates the hands that save lives. Faith thanks God for people who refuse to give up on children. I didn’t speak hate. I spoke joy. And for some reason I am being met with hate. Weird, but k.
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u/misplacedbass 1d ago
You’re the same type of person who just says “god has a plan” when a child dies of terminal cancer. What was gods plan for a baby that is raped and brutally murdered? It’s gods plan to have that child suffer and die but have the rapist and murder still alive? Why praise a god who apparently has the ability to stop those things, yet chooses not to?
It’s delusion.
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u/stayathomeastronaut3 1d ago
I’m so sorry you carry that kind of anger and grief. Truly. I don’t believe God delights in suffering, nor do I believe He causes cruelty. I believe evil exists because human freedom exists, and love without freedom is not love at all.
I don’t pretend to understand every tragedy. I don’t say “God planned” abuse, murder, or cancer. I say God walks with the broken, grieves with them, and works through human hands to heal when healing is possible.
My faith doesn’t deny suffering. It refuses to let suffering have the final word.
I honored doctors. I honored science. And I thanked God for people who refuse to give up on children. That wasn’t delusion — it was gratitude.
You don’t have to share my faith. But I hope one day your pain finds peace.
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u/Charnathan 1d ago
Is it "terminal brain cancer" if it's not terminal? Gotta scratch the noggin on that one.
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u/Johon1985 1d ago
As a lifelong pedant, in surviving, it is by definition not terminal.
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u/djdmed90 1d ago
They define the cancer by its statistical likelihood of death, not on an individual basis. And DIPG is a death sentence in almost all cases, so it is labeled terminal. Your pedantry is misplaced.
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u/4RealHughMann 1d ago
As if beating "rare aggressive brain cancer" isn't enough, they still have to make things up
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u/Menchi-sama 1d ago
Why is his last name in feminine form? I googled but all I found are social media reposts
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