Kathleen[a]
Experimental Drug Stops Growth Of Brain Tumor
January 3, 2006
A boy with cancer has made a remarkable recovery.
NBC 10 first told you about Michael Urban Jr. in September of 2004. Many people thought the 7-year-old would not win his fight against a deadly brain tumor. Now his parents are starting the new year with new hope. "For us, it is a miracle because his prognosis was only a few weeks," said Michael Urban Sr.
For more than two years, Michael was losing his battle with brain cancer.
"The radiation didn´t work. They told us that it wasn´t working in April, that the tumor had slightly grown and, basically, we had run out of all of our options," said Traci Urban, Michael´s mother.
In September of 2004, NBC 10 News chronicled their fight with U.S. Airways to get a refund when Mike was too sick to travel. At that point, time was running out for the boy. "Then, when they came back and said that there was a little something that we could try, I was all for it, of course. I´ll do anything. I´ll do anything to help my son," Traci Urban said.
Michael´s doctors at Children´s Hospital tried an experimental carcinoma drug and found that it stopped the boy´s cancer. "At times we have to do a check with ourselves because you can almost forget that he´s sick. I mean, it´s that good," said Michael Urban, the boy´s father.
Michael´s brain tumor hasn´t grown in nine months and his parents said that there have been no side effects. He is now back to school full-time. But it is Michael himself who knows what he can do now that he could not do before.
"Run really fast and I have a lot of energy," he said. The hospital asked NBC 10 News not to reveal the exact name of the drug used in Michael´s treatment because it is still experimental. However, anyone who wants more information can call the oncology department at Children´s Hospital of Philadelphia.
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