CALGARY – He’s known in the ring as Bo “Unbreakable” Cooper – a pro Canadian mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter who, among his wins, sent cancer into remission, twice.
But the 26-year-old was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia again in fall of 2014.
He has exhausted chemotherapy and is confident the drugs he’s taking now aren’t working.
“It just feels inflamed and it squeezes,” Cooper said, holding his knee. “It’s just the most excruciating pain.”
“Bo only has one option left,” said Cooper’s dad, Rob. “That is CAR T-Cell therapy, and it’s only offered in the U.S.”
The therapy is still in trial but results have been promising, including for a young man in Montreal whose cancer was sent back into remission.
It involves extracting cells from a patient and modifying those cells to better recognize and kill cancer. The modified cells are grown and multiplied before infusing them back into the patient.
READ MORE: Could this new therapy kill cancer? Canadian doc thinks so
“We’re running out of time now. There’s not as many options,” Bo said. “All I can do is hope and pray now that I’m able to get that treatment and beat it once and for all.”
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The therapy isn’t cheap; costing between $500,000 and $900,000. But with help of his coworkers at the Fort McMurray Fire Department, the family has raised over $180,000 through a gofundme page.
“I don’t know where we’re at with the fundraising. I’ll be honest with you, I don’t look at it,” Rob said. “It reminds me of the mountain that we’re trying to climb for Bo. I just keep going forward and trying to find more opportunities to make it happen. The gofundme – those are strangers – and there’s lots of friends.”
“Bo’s support group is so big and I’m not sure what we did to deserve that.”
MLA for Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo and Wildrose Party member Tany Yao is now calling on the province to help.
“Denying Bo the opportunity to receive this lifesaving treatment is an indictment of our broken government,” Yao said. “I really truly believe they could find more efficient means for spending our money in the most productive manner and I believe this would be one of them.”
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In a statement, Alberta Health Minister Sarah Hoffman said: “At this time, CART cell treatment is still experimental. It is not approved by Health Canada and there is not enough available evidence showing the treatment is safe or effective. As more evidence is gathered, we will review this treatment and other emerging treatments.”
But Bo’s family worries that could be too late for him. His parents are caring for him in Calgary while he’s in and out of hospital. His newlywed-wife flies in and out of Calgary from Fort McMurray as well.
Although he’s weak and mostly bed-ridden, Bo said he’s treating each day as a gift.
“I may be in lots of pain right now but at least it’s another day to walk outside and just look at the trees or have the breeze on your face.”
Bo and his dad remain positive the money will come and are making plans to travel to the States when it does.
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