Folding Forum

I have a friend who is currently suffering from an myeloblastic leukemia, his name is Benoît, it is 39 years old.
It is treated here in Belgium at the University Clinic St. Luc, but it has become resistant to chemotherapy treatments.

He already had a bone marrow transplant in 2010 that has not been successful. Actualy the doctor's doesn't have any solutions anymore.

The only hope should be that he could come in USA to try an experimental treatment such as new gene therapies.

we are trying to make contact with someone who could help us !

All information are welcomed.

Thank you in advance...

My 12 year old sister died from a cancer in her chest/lungs couple of years ago. Chemo was not very effective due to the cancer's slow growth. We found this place http://www.burzynskiclinic.com/ and we were very impressed. His approach is at the DNA level, only applying specific treatments based on specific DNA markers. Its been a while and I've forgotten the details, but if chemo is a nuclear weapon to the body, his treatments are more like sniper rounds; hitting their targets with minimal collateral damage. Understand that I wouldn't suggest some anecdotal thing based on circumstancial evidence, this clinic has effective treatments that in some cases have been far superior to traditional methods. They specialize in brain cancers, but you should probably call them and ask how they can help your specific case. I will confidently say that they extended my sister's life by at least a year. Adults will probably fair better. They often take patients who have already gone through traditional treatments and are near end of life, and the clinic's drugs cure them completely. Your mileage may vary of course, but you should probably take a look.

It's been well established that over half of all known cancers are a result of the misfolding of p53, a tumor suppressor protein. The Pande group has made some remarkable progress in determining which mutations of p53 cause cancer. This was presented in the first scientific publication related to cancer from a distributed computing project. They've also performed studies of protein chaperones, which help proteins fold. Hopefully their results will lead to the creation of specific chaperones which will repair or destroy damage p53. In essence, I've been very impressed by their cancer efforts. It's devestating disease that I would argue is even worse than Alzheimers, since can affect children.

Jesse_V, thank you for this information, we will have to contact the clinic to see if there is an opportunity.

Best of luck. I've personally met Dr. Burzinzski, he certain knows what he's doing just like Dr. Pande.

Dr. Burzinski is Polish and his treatments are used in clinics in Europe and Japan. So you may not need to have your friend come over to the US after all. My sister was treated in Houston, Texas though, even though we're from Alaska.

I visited your website and saw the photo of your sister, god bless her, and again a big thank you to you.

It's always sad to hear this news...

My uncle is suffering from Multiple myeloma, a form of cancer that can't be cured. He's currently taking chemo and has had radiation in UZ Ghent. At the moment he's slowly deteriorating but I hope things will stabilize soon. A niece of my mother has brain tumors and won't last much longer. She takes meds purely to ease the pain.

My grandfather died of prostate cancer, it runs through the family (another uncle was succesfully operated). Skin cancer runs through my fathers family (grandmother survived it). We all fold to get better cancer treatments one day!

Yes cancer is a problem that affects many people at all ages...

Since yesterday the situation of my friend is worse because he is suffering from a staphylococcus infection. We are waiting to see how the situation evolves because the immune system is not functioning properly.

Thank you for responding to this post.

All I can say is good luck, I wish your friend and those close to him the very best.

Thank you MtM for these comforting words.

Just for your information, my friend Benoit died today in my presence. He died due to recent complications from his leukemia.
Special thanks to Jesse_V address he had given me for a possible treatment in the United States. Unfortunately complications related to his illness have not made ​​this possible.
I also thank MtM for his kind message.

Benoit was just 40 years February 15 2012 he left behind a wife and two children aged 6 and 4...

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=639779333

I am confident that the basic research we in Folding@Home generate will eventually serve as tools for developing treatments for host of diseases.

My condolences for your loss.

I completely second Leonardo's post.
You are most welcome.
I'm sorry for your loss...

I'm sorry to hear that verlyol, my deepest condolences for your loss.

All the more reason for all of us to keep folding and to help science progress.

My condolences.

40 years is way too young to go. My thoughts go out to his wife and children..