Bryn Ailinger has always been sassy and outgoing, according to her mother, Erica. But, in 2024, Erica knew something was wrong with her little girl. Bryn was fatigued and bruising easily, so her parents took her to her primary care doctor. They started the process thinking maybe Bryn had low iron, but further testing revealed something much more daunting.
On April 29 that same year, Bryn was diagnosed with precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. She was four years old at the time.
“You think the worst immediately,” says Justin Ailinger, Bryn’s father. “I didn’t know if I was going to have a daughter by the end of the year.”
Erica added, “Really, you kind of go into shock. Your world just stops everything. You ask the doctor, ‘What are we going to do?’ She has what she has now. We have to fight it.”
Bryn’s Fight Against Cancer
Bryn’s treatment path is one that has been filled with pivots. Because her cancer cells harbored a rare and aggressive mutation, TCF3-HLH, standard chemotherapies and surgeries proved ineffective.
After two unsuccessful pursuits, the Ailinger’s doctor presented them with a different option: CAR-T Cell Therapy. This is where Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center … and donors and fundraisers like you … become a key character in Bryn’s story.
The ‘Miracle’ Treatment
“Our doctor pretty much point-blank told us, if we didn’t have this option, she probably would not be here right now,” said Erica. “To have that and to have access to this treatment, we will promote that until we are blue in the face.”
“I look at her, and I see a miracle,” says Meghan Higman, MD, PhD, a pediatric oncologist at Roswell Park specializing in blood cancers. “That’s because this kid five years ago wouldn’t have been alive, and now she’s alive, thriving and just, wow.”
Dr. Higman and her Roswell Park colleagues recommend CAR T-cell therapy even for their youngest patients who can benefit — not only for its efficacy but also its safety compared to chemo.
CAR T-cell therapy involves extracting T cells, a type of immune cell, from a patient’s blood and then taking them into a specialized lab. From there, scientists engineer the cells to recognize and kill cancer cells. The cells are then duplicated by the millions and replaced in the patient’s body through an IV infusion.
The cells are processed in Roswell Park’s newly expanded Good Manufacturing Practice Engineering & Cell Manufacturing Facility (GEM), one of the largest facilities of its kind in the United States.
Your Gifts are Fueling Tomorrows for Patients like Bryn
“These are kids who want to live. They want to be older than four or five. They want to go to high school. They want to do all the fun stuff,” Erica pleaded. “Little bits of donations add up. Just to get even a little bit here and there comes together to help these children not be sick, to not have to live in a hospital, to not have to spend all their days confined in their homes. These are great efforts now that are coming forth, and they come forth because of donations.”
Due to Bryn’s treatment, she spent much of the last year in isolation, but today, she’s facing a new reality.
“Right now she’s doing good. She’s back in first grade. She’s going to be starting up her music lessons again, and she’s just living. She’s just having fun,” said Erica.”
Through your gifts to the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation, you’ve given Bryn and her family something priceless: hope for the future.
