Unstoppable Testimonies

Hello! I’m Juanxo, I’m 25 years old and I’m from Cartagena, but I live in Almería.

On 7 June 2017 I was diagnosed with type B acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. At the beginning everything went well. The first few months of treatment were quite bearable. In just 6 months I was able to undergo a bone marrow transplant because the Bone Marrow Donor Registry of the Josep Carreras Foundation found an anonymous donor who was 100% compatible. Up to that point everything was going well, but the disease had another course in store for me.

Six months after transplantation, I was informed of an early relapse and that is when everything changed. The disease became more aggressive than they expected and, after trying several lines of treatment, they realised that the disease had become refractory and was becoming immune to the chemotherapies. 

Just when things were looking bleak and doctors were least optimistic, a small thread of hope appeared in the form of a clinical trial. It was then that I was given the opportunity to participate in the Ari CAR-t immunotherapy project that was being carried out at the Hospital Clínic in Barcelona at that time. As I was taught, you have to try until the last bullet is spent, and so that’s what I did.

In March 2018 I entered the trial and so far everything has run smoothly and we will continue to touch wood. After all that I have experienced over the years, I will keep the positive things I have learned along the way. Because everything is not always bad, even if it seems that way, and, as Albert Espinosa once quoted: “Cancer has taken very important things away from me, but it has made me aware of many other things that I could never have found out on my own”. I met my current partner, María, who is also Unstoppable against lymphoma; I have been able to help many people with my story; I have met great Unstoppables who are like an extended family to me; I have been able to do sporting challenges in support of the Foundation and many other things such as travelling, enjoying myself and, above all, the most important thing. Live!