Update: While on a break waiting to start Car-T therapy on 6/17/24 Jamir was back hospitalized for extreme pain AGAIN and within a few days we learned that his cancer made a lineage switch from ALL to AML. Not only did he relapse this year but his cancer switched to a different kind and is even more aggressive. It’s proving to be very difficult and resistant. We are trying to get the cells down to be able to go straight to transplant (Car-t is off the table now) but so far the chemo doesn’t seem to be working. Praying hard for a miracle!

Jamir Gibbs, age 7, was diagnosed with B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia 5/31/2022. Jamir is one of 4 kids, and they reside in Marion, IL. The first year and a half was extremely rough but after that Jamir was doing really well for months and was loving getting to go to school and make friends. He had missed his first year of kindergarten so no matter how bad he felt, he still wanted to go to school. He was due to ring the bell in September of this year. In March extreme pain came back in his lower back along with bad headaches and recent fatigue so his mother took him to his treating hospital Cardinal Glennon STL, MO almost two hours away. 3/15/2024 she received the news that Jamir relapsed while still on treatment. This meant that the cancer built some resistance to some of the chemotherapy. It also grew other mutations. The only option now is a bone marrow transplant. It was devastating news especially when he was so close to the finish line.

Since relapse Jamir has gone into septic shock, got bacterial meningitis from a very rare and aggressive bacteria called Rothia, contracted BK virus, pneumonia, and more. All of that in just a little over 2 months. The cancer has also proven to be extremely aggressive. Due to the meningitis side effects the doctors have had to figure things out as they go. He is not the typical relapse case so they cannot do things the way they normally would. He has had his T cells collected to be manufactured into Car T cells for Car T therapy. Car T therapy will keep him hospitalized for a couple of months and then he will have the bone marrow transplant after which takes another 3 months or so. Jamir will spend the majority of this year hospitalized and likely miss every holiday. This has already been such a long road for the family.

Any help is greatly appreciated so his mother can put all of her focus on Jamir and his siblings. Please ask family, friends, and neighbors to keep them in prayer. Thank you.