Carlos’s Story: Beating Two Leukemias Before College 

When he was in eighth grade, Carlos Romero started experiencing severe pain in his joints. His elbows and knees ached, which he initially thought were growing pains or a sports-related injury.  
 
“At first, I didn't think much of it,” says Carlos, now 20, of Brentwood, NY. “But the pain kept getting worse and worse, until it was unbearable.” 

 
Blood tests revealed an abnormally high white blood cell count. Earlier that year, one of his friends at school was diagnosed with leukemia, so he already had in mind what such a result could mean. His parents took him to the hospital immediately, where after further testing, doctors confirmed his fears. 
 
“They broke the news to me that I had acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and I just started crying,” he says.  
 
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a blood cancer in which the bone marrow makes too many immature lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell. After nearly three years of on-and-off chemotherapy and radiation, Carlos came to the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC) at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) for a stem cell transplant. At that point, his liver had been badly damaged by the treatments he received.  

 
“Unfortunately, the transplant failed. We did a second transplant, which also failed,” says Prakash Satwani, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at CUMC. “Then, he developed a second leukemia and became extremely sick.” 

In 2020, while attending high school, Carlos was diagnosed with a second type of leukemia called acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In AML, blood stem cells become a type of immature white blood cell called myeloblasts instead of healthy white blood cells. Treatment for AML typically includes two-and-a-half years of chemotherapy, but a life-threatening complication after only six months meant that it was no longer an option.  
 
“He had a colostomy for months, almost a year, because he had a massive infection all over the body. He was in the ICU, he was on the isolator,” says Dr. Satwani. “And we were not sure he would survive.” 
 
Towards the end of his senior year, Carlos was transferred from a hospital in Long Island to CUIMC for a third stem cell transplant. Previously, the bone marrow came from unrelated donors through the registry. This time, Dr. Satwani used a 50% match sibling as a donor, Carlos’s sister. To protect Carlos’s liver, he also designed an individualized chemotherapy regimen — low-dose, with extended breaks between sessions — for the period before transplant.  
 

“I graduated high school during my stem cell transplant,” says Carlos. “I saw my graduation through the livestream, and my sister and my mom were able to pick up my diploma for me.” 
 
After a few months, Carlos completely recovered and has been in remission ever since. He attends community college, plays soccer with his friends, and spends time at home with his family. His journey has even inspired him to consider a career in the medical field.  
 
“I really can't thank the doctors enough. They saved my life,” he says. “I owe them everything.”