Six-year-old Ryan celebrated an important milestone on January 23, 2008 — five years of cancer survivorship. Ryan's mother, Liz, gives thanks every day, and she is always willing to discuss Ryan's triumphant battle over cancer as well as the people responsible for his cure.

“It is really exciting to have an opportunity to share Ryan’s story on the KS95 for Kids Radiothon,” says Liz. “Ryan’s umbilical cord blood transplant was the reason he survived his cancer.  At the time, it was his only option.  We had absolutely no idea of all the research that made that treatment option possible for him at the time. It was truly a gift for Ryan, so we are happy to help generate awareness for the work being done by Children’s Cancer Research Fund and the University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, Fairview.”

Five years of cancer survivorship seems a world away from life in July 2002. A cold had passed through the Jacobs family, and 6-month-old Ryan, the youngest, was the last to get sick. After the sniffles turned into a raging fever, his pediatrician decided to test a blood sample. The results were absolutely devastating — Ryan had leukemia.

Ryan’s diagnosis was acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), an aggressive and fast-growing cancer of the blood and bone marrow. In healthy children, the bone marrow makes many unformed cells called blasts that normally develop into white blood cells to fight infection. But in AML, the blasts are abnormal, and quickly overcome the production of normal red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets the body needs. AML only has a cure rate of 51 percent.

Ryan’s doctors immediately began aggressive treatment with three rounds of chemotherapy over a four-month period. He appeared to go into remission...until a check-up confirmed what no one wanted to hear: the leukemia cells had not been completely destroyed.

“Hearing that was worse than the initial diagnosis of his leukemia,” Liz remembers. “This time around, we knew just way too much. We’d already asked all the horrible questions you need answers to as parents, and John [Ryan’s father] and I just went into shock that second time around. We hit a real low.”

Ryan once again began battling for his life. Another round of chemotherapy proved to be effective, but Ryan needed a stem cell transplant to help his bone marrow recover. Stem cells need to be matched between the donor and recipient to ensure they will not be rejected by the body. Unfortunately, no one in Ryan’s family was a close match. However, a stem cell transplant using umbilical cord blood from an unrelated donor was a viable option, and this is where the KS95 for Kids Radiothon enabled Children’s Cancer Research Fund to help save Ryan’s life.

By supporting the University of Minnesota’s Stem Cell Biology program, Children’s Cancer Research Fund is enabling the University to continue its pioneering efforts in umbilical cord blood transplantation. This support enables researchers to expand their umbilical cord blood studies to further develop novel approaches for treating pediatric cancer patients like Ryan who require marrow transplantation. Without the development of that expertise, Ryan’s story might have had a different outcome.

Ryan went to the University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, Fairview to begin the transplant process under the direction of Dr. Norma Ramsay. On January 23, 2003 – just one week before his first birthday – Ryan received the umbilical cord blood transplant that allowed for his recovery and discharge from the hospital one month later. Unfortunately, Ryan’s battle was not finished.

Ryan contracted an infection that went straight to his lungs, causing him to hemorrhage and bleed out and sending him into septic shock. Dozens of physicians collaborated extensively on how to best treat Ryan. Their efforts enabled him to successfully fight that infection and 22 more infections over the course of three months, all with greater physical strength.

Today, Ryan is a healthy childhood cancer survivor. He loves tap dancing and anything related to Batman.

Throughout Ryan’s treatment, the Jacobs family received assistance from Care Partners, a quality-of-life program funded by Children’s Cancer Research Fund and dedicated to supporting families of pediatric cancer patients at the University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, Fairview. “At the U, the rest of our children couldn’t be there during Ryan’s transplant and follow-up treatment,” said Liz. “Care Partners took great care of me and John throughout the experience. Just knowing that someone trained to be with cancer patients was there as back-up gave us the freedom to take the little bits of time off that we so badly needed but were always so scared to take.”

Listen to Ryan's Story Here


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