Cancer Survivor Celebrates 10 Years in Remission After Breakthrough CAR T-Cell Therapy

A Colorado teacher who traveled to Nebraska a decade ago after running out of treatment options is celebrating 10 years in complete remission thanks to a pioneering immunotherapy trial.

Amy Cheese was battling lymphoma, a form of blood cancer, and carried a grapefruit-sized tumor that was putting dangerous pressure on her heart. With medical experts estimating she had only months to live, the third-grade teacher agreed to participate in a clinical trial at the Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center in Omaha as a last resort.

In 2016, Cheese became one of the first patients at the facility to receive CAR T-cell therapy. The experimental procedure involved extracting her T-cells, genetically engineering them to recognize cancer, and reintroducing them into her body to hunt down and destroy the disease. Cheese often explained the complex medical process to her young students by describing how doctors turned her white blood cells into cancer-eating lions.

Just months after the procedure, follow-up scans showed no remaining traces of the tumor, confirming complete remission.

Hematologist and oncologist Dr. Julie Vose noted that seeing such profound success in early trials remains deeply gratifying for medical teams working on the front lines of cellular therapy. Dr. Matt Lunning, medical director of gene and cellular therapy at the center, emphasized that early trials written without decades of historical drug data paved the way for CAR T-cell therapy to evolve from cutting-edge science into a reliable standard of care.

Cheese retired from teaching last year and now spends her time with her grandchildren. On Friday, colleagues at Nebraska Medicine and the University of Nebraska Medical Center community will gather to celebrate the patients, medical advancements, and breakthroughs achieved through CAR T-cell therapy over the past decade.

Explore: NBCPalmSprings.com, where we are connecting the Valley.