AFTER PREVIOUS TREATMENTS HAD FAILED – CAR-T CELL THERAPY SAVED PEDRO DA SILVA’S LIFE

October 2, 2023

In 2013, Pedro da Silva received intensive chemotherapy treatment for testicular cancer. Then, in 2016, during routine follow-up, he was diagnosed with a second form of cancer – this time leukemia. Local doctors in his native country of Portugal began by treating him with Imatinib. For the first few months, it appeared that this treatment was effective. However, testing later revealed that the cancer had returned, and his doctors decided to switch the chemotherapy drug to Ponatinib. Sadly, in May 2018, this medication also stopped having an effect on the cancer. Complete remission was never achieved, and the doctors in Portugal were not optimistic about Pedro’s prognosis.

But Carlos Marques da Silva, Pedro’s father, refused to give up hope.

“I never resigned myself to what the doctors told me,” he said. “I read and researched a lot about what to do to treat Pedro’s cancer, and then I discovered CAR-T cell therapy – being given in Israel. We had nothing to lose, because we had no other options.”
Carlos, a businessman who travels the world, didn’t hesitate about travelling to Israel.
Making sure that Pedro received the best cancer treatment possible was his top priority.

When Pedro arrived at Sheba Medical Center in Israel, his leukemia had advanced to a late stage. Using CD22-targeted chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T), Sheba’s doctors performed state-of-the-art CAR-T cell therapy, which worked exceptionally well. Pedro suffered no complications and returned to Portugal for a bone marrow transplant.

“The Israeli medical team that treated Pedro was fantastic,” said Carlos. “Dr. Abraham Avigdor, Dr. Adrien Duek, and the rest of the team were always professional, and our personal medical coordinator, Victoria, was amazing and extremely helpful. Kudos to the whole Sheba team!”
In conclusion, Carlos stressed, “I wholeheartedly recommend Sheba to everyone in need of medical treatment! We constantly say this to all patients and doctors in Portugal.”

Published by Sheba Global