Mission Moment Monday: Running Through CML

Less than three months ago, on November 25, 2014, Louis Huerta heard news from his doctor that would shake his world.

Louis had been on a journey since January to achieve greater health. For the past 10 months, he had been on a healthy diet and exercise program and had successfully lost 80 pounds. When he went to see his doctor for a physical and learned he had leukemia, he was shocked.

"Why," he wondered, "what did I do to cause this?" He discovered that his disease was the result of a random genetic mutation of a chromosome called Philadelphia Chromosome. Louis had been working so hard to lose weight and become healthy because his doctors had always told him that this would solve all his problems. He finally got healthy, then found out he had cancer. "I laughed out loud at the irony," he said.

His diagnosis was Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML), a very rare cancer of the white blood cells. Typically it occurs in older adults, but can occur in anyone of any age, including children. Louis is only 33 years old.

At first, he was frightened and decided that the best way to overcome his fears was to educate himself. Immediately Louis began researching CML and discovered that although the life expectancy for CML patients 15 years ago was 3-7 years, some very significant strides have been made to completely change this statistic. In 2000, the development of a targeted therapy called imatinib brought a great victory for CML patients and increased life expectancy to 14 or more years. Patients on this therapy are being monitored and it is thought that in many cases, these patients will go on to live a full, normal, healthy life just by taking one pill each day.

Discovering that he would simply take one small pill every day and may never have to do chemo or radiation or bone marrow transplant (very rare treatment protocols these days for CML patients), Louis began to tell family and friends, "I have bad news, but mostly good news". This therapy has various side effects. Each patient is different, but most patients feel just like Louis: "like I'm not even sick".

Initially, Louis experienced a few minor side effects and at first he was hypersensitive to these, but soon realized that these side effects were not truly causing harm. He actually felt good. After six weeks of taking his pills, he had a follow up appointment with his oncologist. "I will always remember January 27, 2015," he said, "I went to see how the Gleevec (imatinib) treatment was going for me."

"All my blood numbers were in the normal range and the key indicator of the Philadephia Chromosome was halved," said Louis, "The treatment is working!"

One of the greatest passions Louis has developed since his journey with health and fitness began is running. He was thrilled that running would not be taken from him when he began treatments for CML. The beauty of a targeted agent administered in pill form is that if patients don't have severe side effects, they can continue a normal life, doing what they love.

Louis loves running and has decided that Team In Training is going to bring him to his next goal- to run a half marathon! Currently, he is training for the Rock N Roll San Diego Half Marathon on May 31. His coach, Dan Walmer said, "he is a champion and an inspiration for people".

If you would like to make a donation to this amazing champion, please go to his fundraising link HERE.

*The drug Louis is taking, imatinib (Gleevec ®), is one of the greatest success stories at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. LLS's funding of Dr. Brian Drucker led to the development and approval of this therapy which has increased survival rates and quality of life for CML patients dramatically. To see more, check out the video below.