Thursday, May 20, 1999
Girl's last try for cure fails
Calif. family came here for new leukemia drug
BY TIM BONFIELD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Medicine ran out of miracles Wednesday for 14-year-old Merisa Rojas.
The California girl and her father had stayed in Cincinnati for several weeks as she became the nation's first pediatric patient to try what researchers still hope will be a breakthrough treatment for leukemia.
Merisa died Wednesday morning at her home in Hollister, Calif., surrounded by family members. “We knew it was a matter of time,” said her father, Fred Rojas. “But she was at home. It was peaceful. Now she's in a better place.”
Merisa was diagnosed in 1997 with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a type of blood cancer that affects about 9,400 people a year, according to the American Cancer Society. A flurry of treatments was attempted — all failed to put her disease into remission.
In April, the Rojas family came to Children's Hospital Medical Center in hopes of a miracle. Here, doctors are testing an experimental “smart drug” made by Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories that's designed to kill leukemia cells in a novel way.
The drug — best known by its target, a protein called CD-33 — combines a powerful chemotherapy medicine with an antibody designed to hunt down cancer cells while leaving normal cells undamaged. After early research in adults showed some positive results, Merisa became the first of 20 to 40 pediatric leukemia patients expected to try the drug.
Merisa received two doses of the “smart drug.” It knocked out the leukemia for a short while, “but the disease came roaring back,” said Dr. Robert Arceci, director of hematology/oncology at Children's Hospital Medical Center.
On April 23, Merisa was flown back to California. She died 26 days later.
Friends and relatives recalled a kind, attractive, outgoing young woman who particularly enjoyed the song “Angel” by Sarah McLachlan.
Mr. Rojas, an imposing-looking man practically covered in tattoos, revealed himself to be a tender father who adored his daughter so much that he regularly made her bed at the Ronald McDonald House, then laid out jewelry on her pillow for her to wear.
Even though the treatment failed to cure her disease, Mr. Rojas said his daughter was proud to be involved in the experiment.
“I feel the doctors did learn something from Merisa along the way,” Mr. Rojas said.
Dr. Arceci said Merisa's death does not prove that the drug doesn't work. Merisa had an advanced case of leukemia.
“There is no question in my mind that this approach will be the future of therapy for this disease. We just have to figure out how to do it right. Unfortunately, that takes time,” Dr. Arceci said.
So far, five children have been enrolled in the CD-33 study. At least one has had positive results, Dr. Arceci said. It will take many more months to get a better picture of whether the drug helps and whether it triggers serious side effects.
If failures dominate the study, CD-33 will fade from the scene like many hundreds of drugs proposed every year to fight cancer and other diseases.
No matter how the research turns out, doctors say — and her father knows — that Merisa made a difference.
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