Joffre Emmanuel has been a fighter since the day he was born.

His mother, Brenda, says he has been defying the odds since the very beginning. Joffre was born with down syndrome, and was later diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) a type of cancer of the blood and bone marrow, shortly after his 5th birthday.

After several rounds of chemotherapy in his home country, the family sought the help of Nicklaus Children’s Hospital’s Global Health Department, who coordinated for Joffre and his family to travel to Nicklaus Children’s Helen & Jacob Shaham Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute, which offers lifesaving treatments like immunotherapy and gene therapies for children with cancers that are not responding to traditional chemotherapies.

“Joffre came to us for new hope, after already undergoing cancer treatment in Ecuador, that did not prove successful and we needed to act quickly, said Dr. Guillermo De Angulo, pediatric hematologist/oncologist. “After careful consideration, we determined he was a candidate for immunotherapy. These are personalized, tailored cancer treatments that use the child’s own immune system to destroy the cancer cells.”

He also underwent chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, another type of specialized immunotherapy, in which Nicklaus Children’s is one of few who offer the treatment. CAR T is carefully administered to the patient in the hospital’s dedicated blood and marrow transplant unit for monitoring and takes several months to complete from start to finish.

Joffre started CAR T-Cell therapy in January of 2024 and thanks to this advanced treatment, was able to return to his home country in June of the same year. His mother, Brenda, says he is improving daily and, most importantly, is no longer in pain.

“Joffre is improving daily and is able to do what children of his age should be doing, enjoying being a child. We are grateful to the doctors from Nicklaus Children’s and the Shaham Cancer and Blood Disorders Institute for their extraordinary work and for restoring hope to our family and son.”

“Everyone at the hospital was an angel in our journey. Their relentless dedication, empathy, and humanity mean the world to us and Joffre,” she said.