Belgian boy, 13, is first person in the world to be CURED of extremely deadly brain cancer after becoming a super-responder to experimental drug [Video]

11:50 EST 14 Feb 2024 , updated 11:58 EST 14 Feb 2024

A 13-year-old Belgian boy has become the first in the world to be cured of a deadly brain cancer.

Aged six, Lucas Jemeljanova was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a very rare and highly aggressive brain tumor which kills 98 percent of sufferers within five years.

He was randomly assigned to receive everolimus, a type of chemotherapy drug, in a clinical trial, which is used to treat kidney, pancreas, breast and brain cancer but has not been used successfully to treat DIPG.

Lucas responded well to the treatment and the tumor gradually vanished.

Seven years later, Lucas now has no trace of cancer, and has officially been in remission for five years.

Lucas ‘beat all the odds’ said his doctor Jacques Grill, and his case ‘offers real hope.’