July 9th, 2026

Oliver was able to get his first Luveltamab infusion on Tuesday! I have learned never to count things as certain until they are done, so we are beyond grateful that he was able to receive the drug and complete his first infusion. The number of phone calls, emails, and paperwork —not to mention financial cost (not to us, just in general) of getting to this point— has been staggering. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who reached out to their contacts, to Blood Cancer United, and to our oncology team at UNC. Thank you for being part of our journey!

The infusion went well and he had no complications. We are not expecting any real side effects other than the possibility of dropping his counts further. Since his marrow is still very slow to recover and his counts aren’t going up very quickly, we are going to start giving Oliver a shot every three weeks to help stimulate the production of white blood cells. This will reduce the risk of infections and help him stay healthy while at home.

We will continue going to clinic on Tuesdays for blood draws and to monitor to make sure he doesn’t need any blood transfusions. Other than that, we will wait until July 28th when Ollie will get a bone marrow biopsy and his second Luveltamab infusion. The biopsy will show us if the drug is working or not. If it is working and we can’t detect the cancer, we will still give him another infusion in order to give some time to prepare for transplant. If it is not working, we will give the second infusion, wait a couple weeks, and then do another biopsy. If after two rounds the Luveltamab is not working, we will combine it with traditional chemo. (Is it just me, or do you need a flow chart to understand this? Thanks, ChatGPT)