It’s Go Time in Rome: Eligible Courage, A Mother’s Cells, and A Son’s Determined Battle

Today is not just another day in this long journey; it marks a significant turning point. Rome operates seven hours ahead of Alabama’s Central Time, meaning that when the clock strikes 1 a.m. in Alabama, Nichole’s day is already well underway at 8 a.m. There is a profound difference in the way time feels on days like this—it’s measured not simply by the ticking of the clock, but by the rhythm of prayers, the pounding of hopeful hearts, and the quiet determination that this day could be the beginning of a miracle.

The night before the procedure, Nichole shared her thoughts openly, laying bare the emotions swirling inside her. Her words were heavy with the gravity of the moment but also shone with a bright light of hope. She wrote, “As we get ready for bed and prepare for tomorrow, I can feel the weight of it all settling on my chest. Tomorrow, I go in for apheresis—the process where they’ll collect my immune cells so they can be reengineered into cancer-fighting cells for Branson. After collection, it will take about three weeks for the scientists to modify and multiply these cells in the lab. Once Branson is strong enough, those cells will be infused back into him with one purpose—to seek out and destroy the leukemia that has already taken so much from our family.”

This therapy, still experimental, represents a beacon of hope but also carries enormous uncertainty. For Branson’s particular rare subtype of T-cell leukemia, this kind of treatment is pioneering territory with no guaranteed outcomes. The fear that comes with this unknown can be overwhelming. Yet Nichole and her family cling tightly to the successes seen in related treatments for B-cell leukemia, where remission rates in some trials have reached over 80 percent. It is this remarkable progress that fuels their hope.

“That’s the hope we’re holding onto,” Nichole wrote. “What worked for others can work for Branson too. This could be his miracle.”Continue reading…