The medicine that Sam is currently taking is called blinatumomab or “blina” for short (short i).   This is how it works: 

Blina is what is called a bispecific T cell engager or “BiTE”.  It allows Sam’s T cells to recognize his malignant B Cells. The Blina molecule has 2 receptor molecules on it: 1 is called CD3 and the other is called CD19. Well guess what? His malignant B Cells have CD19 (labeled “tumor antigen” in the diagram) on their cell membranes and his healthy T Cells have CD3 on theirs so Blina works by linking them up!  It’s like puzzle pieces: Blina is the connecting piece. And once it connects the B Cell (malignant) and the T cell (healthy), the process activates the T cell to exert cytotoxic activity on the malignant B cell, destroying it (Wikipedia).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blinatumomab

Sam doesn’t have a lot of leukemia but there’s enough that we need to destroy it before his stem cell transplant. Blina is administered by a small, battery powered pump that he carries in a  cross chest black bag and the pump is continuously administering the medicine 24/7 through tubing leading to the port in his chest.. Amazing! And that, of course, means he can go through his normal teen life, as much as possible, which is medicine in and of itself. Yay!

#FULeukemia

#TeamSam