Munich AIDS Congress - Cancer and HIV defeated - Stem cell donor "like a sister"
Together they present themselves for the photo: Marc Franke and his stem cell donor Anja Prause. "She is like a sister to me," says Franke. The 55-year-old is one of very few people worldwide who are considered cured of HIV. With the stem cell transplantation, which was necessary due to leukemia, he overcame - ultimately an unintended consequence - also HIV. Together with his donor, he reports on the way to his recovery at the World AIDS Conference in Munich.
"I'm glad I was able to help him," says the 58-year-old Prause. "There was only a small window of opportunity for that: Shortly after her registration as a donor, which was prompted by a conversation with a colleague, she received the message that there was a recipient - from whom she initially knew nothing.
A chance for healing was a "great coincidence"
"It was all a great coincidence. I had cancer a year later and could no longer donate," reports Prause. "I received the first letter from Marc while I was having my first chemotherapy. And I told my husband: 'If I have to die now, I can say: I had an amazing life. I gave birth to a wonderful child - and I healed someone from cancer.''' But she also overcame cancer.
What she only learned from Marc Franke: She has a rare immunity to the HIV virus - for Marc, however, the chance to overcome HIV with the risky, but necessary stem cell donation. Franke reports that he had heard of the so-called Berlin Patient Timothy Brown, who was freed from HIV after a stem cell transplantation due to cancer - the first person in the world.
"I thought: If that ever works, it should work again," says he today. In 2008, he learned he was HIV-positive, in 2010 received the leukemia diagnosis, in 2011 had chemotherapy, in 2012 relapsed, and in 2013 underwent a stem cell transplant. In the hospital, he met his current partner. "That gave me immense strength to get through this time. I wanted to get back on my feet again to live a life with him."
Cancer was the primary illness of those considered cured of HIV, and they had only a chance of survival through stem cell transplantation. According to doctors, the risk of not surviving this therapy is between 10 and even 15 percent.
After his recovery, he had his "second coming-out," says Franke, who became known as the Düsseldorf Patient. "I'm fighting against HIV stigmatization now." It's not good to always talk about AIDS, he turns directly to Sharon Lewin, President of the International AIDS Society (IAS), who organized the conference as the world's largest association of HIV experts. Franke: "People still have the image from the 1980s in their heads." With all the prejudices from back then.
Hope for healing for all still far away
Also Adam Castillejo, who became known as the London Patient, and Paul Edmonds, patient of City of Hope - so the name of the US cancer clinic where he was treated, have traveled to the largest global meeting on the topic of HIV to Munich. He is happy, says Edmonds, who has lived with HIV for 30 years and is now at the conference with his partner.
Castillejo urges more efforts in the fight against HIV. "We need to do more to find a cure for all," he demands. He engages himself wherever possible. He and the other recoverers are primarily cancer patients - who were inadvertently freed from HIV. However, this gives hope, he says, and appeals: "Please don't give up hope."
A risk-free cure for people with HIV is still far away. Christian Gaebler from the Charité Hospital's Infectious Diseases Clinic, who presented the second Berlin Patient - the seventh patient worldwide to be healed of HIV - at the conference, said that stem cell transplantation is not an option here. "I believe we can do it," Gaebler said about the chance of a cure applicable to many, "but not in the next few years, but rather in decades."
World AIDS Conference
- Marc Franke and his stem cell donor Anja Prause shared their recovery journey from HIV/AIDS at the World AIDS Conference in Munich, Bavaria.
- Prause, who has a rare immunity to the HIV virus, donated stem cells to Franke during his cancer treatment, which inadvertently led to his HIV recovery.
- The World AIDS Conference in Munich was attended by several patients who were considered cured of HIV, including Adam Castillejo, known as the London Patient.
- Castillejo urged more efforts in the fight against HIV, stating, "We need to do more to find a cure for all."
- Christian Gaebler from the Charité Hospital's Infectious Diseases Clinic shared at the conference that stem cell transplantation, while it has led to the recovery of several HIV patients, is not yet a viable option for a cure for the general population.
- Another patient at the World AIDS Conference, Paul Edmonds, who has lived with HIV for 30 years, expressed hope, saying, "Please don't give up hope."
