Bo Cooper has sent his leukemia into remission with the help of an experimental therapy that the Fort McMurray firefighter is receiving in the USA. The remission was diagnosed close to 1 month after Bo received a second round of the new and controversial therapy. On April 20 Cooper’s family received the news that Bo’s bone marrow sample showed that there is less than .01% of the leukemia still in his system. Rob Cooper, Bo’ s dad, told the media in an email that “This is a great victory for us all, but Bo’s fight is not over yet. The future lies in how the cells continue to perform. There is also a real possibility of a difficult second Bone Marrow transplant for Bo. The next few months will tell us more.”

The experimental therapy that Bo Cooper is receiving is called CAR T-cell immunotherapy, and the firefighter must travel to Bethesda, Maryland to receive treatment from the National Institute of Health in order to take part in the trials. When Bo received the first round of therapy in January the Fort McMurray resident has an infection, and this caused interference with the t-cells used in the treatment because of the medications used to treat the infection. Irish Cooper, Bo’s wife and best friend, explained that “As his health was progressing, we were feeling more confident that the second infusion of Car T cells were doing their job. We all know how incredibly strong Bo is. He is very determined to win this battle.”